

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



"ToloT 



THE PILGRIMS' FAITH REVIVED. 



BY 



CHAKLES T. TOKREY. 

Written during his incarceration in Baltimore Jail, after his 
conviction, and while awaiting— his sentence. 



4 Aye, call it holy ground, 

The land whereon they trod ; 
They left unstained what there they found, 

Freedom to worship God.' 



PUBLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS FAMILY. 



SALEM : 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. 
CINCINNATI *. GEORGE L. WEED. 

1845. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, 

BY JOHN P. JEWETT, 

In the Clerk's Office of District Conrt of Massachusetts. 




A N D O T E R : 

Printed by Allen, Morrill and Wardwell. 



PREFACE. 



A good book needs none ; and the best preface cannot 
improve a bad one. Friend ! The writer is the inmate of 
a prison cell. Months ago, while in freedom, I agreed to 
prepare a volume for a Sunday School Society, designed 
to illustrate the causes of the decay, and the means of a 
revival of piety in the church and the individual mind. 
Its illustrations were to be drawn in part, from the history 
of the Puritan churches of New England, and in part, from 
such records of experience as every observing Christian 
treasures up, in his journey towards his Heavenly Home. 
It was to be a book of principles, with enough of illustration 
by incident and narrative to show their value and applica- 
tion to our duty. 

Just as I was prepared to write, wicked men seized me, 
and thrust me into a felon's jail, on the charge of being — a 
sinner ? No ! but merciful, kind, compassionate to some of 
the poor of the land, contrary to the laws of Maryland. 
I have been tried, and convicted, on just such evidence as 
the Jews brought against i*ty Saviour and yours 5 neither 
more respectable nor more true. It is very possible the 
next years of my life may be spent in prison, with no com- 
panion to whom to open my heart, but Christ. Blessed be 
His Holy Name. No prison can exclude him from the soul. 

Meantime, I had a few days of reprieve. One anxiety 
only has been in my heart. I have a wife and children. 
They are poor ; I in prison. How can I save them from 
want % By doing evil I will not ; perhaps by doing good 
I may. ^ Without books, with no helps, a few days labor 
will not impart to the long meditated volume the character 
which shall entirely fit it for a Sabbath School Society. 
But, by imparting to it somewhat more of a narrative form, 
even its value may not be impaired, while its interest shall 
be increased. It may do good to many, by showing them 
the paths of life, and it may help, too, to feed my family. 
If it is worth reading, it will do both. 

So I have written. According to my best judgment it is 
fitted to do good, to attract attention to the saving truths of 
the gospel, and to lead men to love them. Otherwise I 
should not dare to send it to the press, even to gain an end 
so sacred as bread for the hungry. I have given it, so to 



IV 



PREFACE. 



speak, a local scenery. I have drawn its scenes, its mcidente, 
its illustrations, mostly from the Home of mT«tooi 
It even takes, in part, the form of personal narrative. Other 
Mdents were not wanting, derived from countless sources, 
to XL-ate great prmcipks. But I love to connec ^every- 
thing I write with the endearments, the sorrows, the joys 
of Home; the scenes and friends whom I loved m youth. 
And Ihave trusted that it would give a more familiar W- 
like character to views intended to gmde the steps of hose 
who seek a Home on high. There is not an mc den^ not 
a narrative or an illustration hut is true, in fact, so tar as 1 
kno " Most of them are town from my owu peiW 
recollections, and are connected with the hfe and death of 

^S^JSLJdl^ while I trust they will 
offend none, will I hope henefit some of my earlyandjhU 
loved associates. At the same time, to the genera 1 reader 
they illustrate traits of human character and pnrfa at 
action that are as universal as the elements of fallen or re- 

pToStply the decline of spiritual rehgion m 
a Puritan church, and "its revival. . The causes of both are 
fflustrated by incidents of every kind, so as to presen .the 
coulast between the worldly and spiritual mind as vmdly 

aS K one b musn-ation provoke a smile, another may cause 
a tear. Smiles and tears make up our life. I kvebofl^n 
their places. Sometimes they each sprmg from an heart 
of agony; sometimes each is the herald ot joy. 

I have not avoided brief discussions of topics both pro- 
found and exciting. And I never go out J*?™** 
avoid a thought that is new, or possibly,, offensive, so be, 

th to, Sef th^widter and his book you know, May it 
kelp you to Value and enjoy that W% rehgwr, . which 
ffls P the bosom of the prisoner with the Peace ; of God, and 
by which our feet may be safely guided m the .path that 
leads from our earthly dwelling-place to our Heavenly 

Homb - Charles T. Torrey. 



Baltimore, Md. \ 
Dec. 20, 1844. J 



CONTENTS. 



Preface P a § es 3 > 4 

CHAPTER I. 

Our town described— Early settlers— Piety with knowledge— Edu- 
cated ministry— No village— No foreign source of corruption— 
The Pastor settled— Parish funds— The causes of declension. 
(1) Theoretical errors. (2) Bad morality— No life remains 

13-30 

CHAPTER II. 

The gold dimmed— Causes. (1) Civil rights conferred on church 
members only. (2) Half-way covenant— True views of the sa- 
craments. (3) Worldly churches will have worldly ministers— 
Whitefield rejected— Teachers of error. (4) Influence of the 
Revolution— The way the tories paid taxes— War no friend of 
Christ . 31—48 

CHAPTER III. 

Like people, like priest— The worldly pastor described— The De- 
ist in the pulpit— Church discipline neglected— Religious ideas 
lost— The heart wiser than the intellect— The Deacon's faith— 

- Pure faith connected with prosperity— The Ball . 49—62 

CHAPTER IV. 

The shades grow darker— Pulpit exchanges with errorists— No so- 
cial prayer— The closet forgotten— Neglect of worship— The 
Sabbath desecrated— Covetousness, which is idolatry— Exam- 
ples 63—71 

CHAPTER V. 

Intemperance abounding— Death and crime— Lewdness— The sins 
of the parents visited on their children, a true story— The covenant 
remembered . . ^ ^ 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Party spirit— Preaching at men— Uses of sects and parties— Bible 
politics — Supremacy of the law of God . . . 82 — 91 

CHAPTER VII. 
Relics of faith— A mother— Spirit in heaven— Old associations. 
The illustration— Old books— Conscience recognizes the truth- 
Literature and religion— The libraries— Home, a mission field ! 
—The faithful preacher— Social prayer, revived— The new com- 
mandment obeyed— Religion and education . . 92—107 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Belle of Home 108—122 

CHAPTER IX. 

The mission sermons — Givers not losers — Weakness made strong; 
Folly, wise— The dream— The poor widow— The learned taught 
humility— The sailor preacher— The heart the best controversial- 
ist— The sons of Home, abroad— The natural heart shown 

123—142 

CHAPTER X. 

Physic for a guilty conscience ! 143 — 164 

CHAPTER XI. 

Old ties broken— The faithful 'pastor— Old George— The Bible class 

The vicious saved— Election justified ; the narrative— The 

strayed sheep looked up— The aged sinner saved— The poor- 
house— Temperance— The last argument, holy living 165—184 

CHAPTER XII. 
The dead left alone !— Satire, yet truth— Religion imitated— Spir- 
it without knowledge— Preaching of Christ, but not preaching 
Christ— The wild flower— Paid pastors no " hirelings" 185—199 

CHAPTER XIII. 
A century passed— Twilight— Logic of the he ait— Spiritual dis- 
cernment—The " set time to favor Zion" come— The revival— 
The wise need teaching 200 — 214 



CONTENTS. 



vii 



CHAPTER XIV. 
" The early loved, the early lost" .... 215—235 

CHAPTER XV. 
Diversities of character — Causes. Natural gifts— Feelings vary — 
Education— Preaching— The metaphysicians— Course of Provi- 
dence ; Facts— Diversities of belief. Illustrations— Sources of 
error— all truths saving—" The same Spirit"— Our Home above. 

236—255 



HOME! 



" They left unstained, what there they found, 
Freedom to worship God I" 

Felicia Hemans. 



CHAPTER I. 

Our town described-^Early settlers — Piety with knowl- 
edge — Educated Ministry — No Tillage — No foreign 
source of corruption — The Pastor settled— Parish funds. 
Two causes of declension, (1) Theoretical errors, (2) 
Bad morality — No life remains. 

" Home ! home ! sweet home ! 
Be it ever so homely, 
There's no place like home !" 

" Our town," the scene of my narrative, is one of 
the first thirteen incorporated towns of New Eng- 
land. I shall call it simply, Home. Long years 
have passed since I ceased to be more than a 
chance visitor there ; but there's not a hill, nor a 
stream, not a quiet meadow, or forest grove, not 
one of its dwellings — many of which bear the 
mosses of nearly two centuries on their venerable 
roofs, in which I do not feel that tender, and ap- 
2 



14 HOME. 

propriating interest which is ever linked with that 
sweet word, Home. No lapse of time, no change 
of pursuits, no alienations of feeling or sentiment 
blot from my memory one scene of my childhood. 
In my dreams, in the prison cell of a distant city, I 
revisit every old haunt, think where I plucked the 
butter-cups and violets; and the old moss grown 
nut tree, the button wood where the oriole hung 
her nest of fine thread, far beyond the reach of the 
most daring ; the dear old mansion where my early 
youth was passed so rapidly; and, more than all, 
the playmates, whose every feature, every joyous 
laugh, every little sorrow, all seem as vividly before 
me, as if it were yesterday's scenes. 

So, no matter what the maps call it, its name 
shall be Home. 

The first white settler in Home, was one of my 
own ancestors. His humble calling, a tanner, did 
not exempt him from the malice of those who 
"wore out the Saints of the Most High," in the 
Fatherland. So, gathering up his household goods, 
cheered by the smiles of his Christian partner, he 
crossed the waste of waters, and, with a courage 
few dared imitate, plunged into the wilderness 
above twenty miles from any habitation of a Chris- 
tian man. His meek confidence in them, and the 
utility of his calling, gained him the favor of the 



HOME. 



15 



savages, and they gave him a large tract of cleared 
land, part of their own corn fields, as a token of 
their love and gratitude. His line of descendants 
still live on the hallowed spot where the first 
prayer ascended to our Fathers' God from the 
domestic altar. He came to the town in ] 622. A 
few years more converted the wild woods and 
swamps into the fields and rich meadows of the 
pleasant farming and fishing town of Home. 

The eastern border, for some twelve miles, rests 
on the sea-shore. It is a long, rocky beach, on 
which the surges never cease to beat, which has 
been the last sand touched by many a shipwrecked 
sailor, and is interrupted by several high hills, or 
cliffs. In some past century these cliffs were long 
promontories, jutting out into the ocean waves. 
Storm after storm has beat upon them, and now, 
more than two thirds of their soil has fallen, and 
been washed away. Twenty years ago, I remem- 
ber riding on firm soil, at a safe distance from the 
then peaceful brink of one of the cliffs, more than 
an hundred feet beyond the present reach of the 
fierce waves. And the huge rocks that once dot- 
ted the top, now help to break the power of the 
waters, far out from the shore. These cliffs, in 
1622 were covered with the cornfields of the In- 
dians. At the foot of one of them stood their wig- 



16 



HOME. 



warns. Near by, stands the old mansion, or its 
successor, built on the soil they gave the friendly 
Christian tanner. Between another, and a rocky 
headland, is our little tide harbor, giving shelter to 
our fishing craft, and a few vessels engaged in the 
coasting trade. 

For more than fifteen miles, our southern border 
rests on the winding banks of a little river, famed 
for its excellent fisheries, and still more for its ship- 
building. Here our carpenters launched the first 
American vessel that ever doubled the stormy Cape 
Horn, and coasted the western shores of our con- 
tinent. It was manned, in part, tradition says, by 
our towns-people. 

From the broad meadows of the river banks, the 
land rises gently towards the North and West, 
towards a range of hills that we call mountains, 
though the dwellers on the sides of the White 
Hills would smile at the designation. Mount Hope, 
the highest, may be 300 feet above the tide level. 
From these hills many little brooks and streamlets 
find their way to the river, and sea side. There is 
not an abrupt hill, not a precipice, save one on the 
sea shore, in all the town. The hills slope gently 
down to the streams; and these flow with hardly a 
murmur, through the woods and wilds till they are 
lost in the large river, having just descent enough 



HOME. 



17 



to supply mill sites to saw the boards, and grind 
the corn and rye we use. The whole tone of the 
scenery is quiet, peaceful, loving, if I may so apply 
the word. The soil is everywhere good, yielding 
fair returns to the farmer's toil. 

Home was early settled by a large number of 
energetic men, who, without exception, engaged in 
farming. Even the ministers, till within my own 
recollection, cultivated the parsonage lands, set 
apart for the support of the gospel by the piety of 
the early settlers. The physicians followed the 
same example. So did the merchants. And as 
for a lawyer, to this day, with over 4000 people, we 
have neither crimes nor quarrels enough to support 
one! They, too, have been farmers, although sev- 
eral of them have adorned the highest judicial sta- 
tions in the Commonwealth and the Nation. 

Till within ten years, there was nothing like a 
village in Home. The people are so evenly dis- 
tributed over its wide surface, that each lives on 
his own separate farm, yet not a house in all Home 
is out of sight of its neighbor. I remember one 
house, in my boyhood, that was so surrounded with 
noble pine forests, that, in spite of its situation on 
a hill top, no other house was visible from it It 
was a topic of general congratulation, among the 
neighbors, when the fall of several huge trees, that 
2 # 



jg HOME. 

had braved the storms of centuries, gave that lonely 
family a view of a chimney top, perhaps a hundred 
rods away ! " Yes, we feel much more social, now," 
remarked the kind woman, who for thirty years 
had not been able to see her neighbors without 
going to their houses, or receiving their visits. 

There are, there always have been, some rich, 
very rich men in our town. But the social inequal- 
ities that riches and poverty too often create were 
scarcely ever known. I remember one rich man 
who made himself very generally odious, because 
he would have his hired laborers eat in the kitchen, 
instead of seating them at the family table. "He 
was.so proud, he would die poor," was once said of 
him! He did not, but his children may. 

For a century and an half, hardly a foreigner has 
entered Home. The few who came were soon as- 
similated to the habits and feelings of a people 
born, living, and dying on the same soil. I can re- 
member twenty families in one section of the town, 
which, for seven, eight and nine generations have 
lived on the same spot; no rare thing in the old 
countries, but quite so in our new and ever moving 
land No foreign sources of corruption, therefore, 
ever came in to make the sons unworthy to bear 
the names of their sires. If they have fallen, the 
root of evil is from within. 



HOME. 



19 



The first settlers were generally men of property. 
Many of them were scholars and accomplished 
gentlemen. They impressed on their children a 
love of learning, and a refinement of manners that 
has never wholly disappeared, in the darkest periods 
of the annals of Home. 

Sound in their religions faith, taught the value of 
a good hope towards God by the lessons of perse- 
cution, there was not, perhaps, for two generations 
a head of a family who did not belong to the 
church ; not a house in which the morning and 
evening sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving was 
omitted. 

No law was ever needed to induce the people 
to sustain a sufficient number of excellent free 
schools. And, for more than a century from the 
settlement, a public " grammar" school, supplied to 
all who desired it, the means of a more enlarged 
course of study. While the rigor of the early faith 
and piety remained, no town set a greater value on 
the higher branches of education than the people 
of Home. 

At an early period two large churches were 
gathered, and pastors were settled ; men who com- 
bined the most fervent piety with the best edu- 
cation the Universities of the mother country, or our 
own infant Harvard could afford. An ignorant 



20 HOME. 

clergyman was never suffered to disgrace a pulpit, 
in Home. Oh, had the people always cared as 
much for the deeper dishonor done to it, by the 
want of a pure faith and the graces of the Spirit, 
how different would have been the results ! Piety 
without knowledge soon becomes mere weak fanat- 
icism. But knowledge without piety only " puffeth 
up" the natural heart with pride, and leads the spirit 
far away from God. 

Nothing better illustrates the spirit of our fathers, 
than the mode of providing a pastor, as it is spread 
out, on many a page of the early town records of 
Home. The whole town took part in it ; for not a 
family was found in its limits who lived without, at 
least, the forms of religion. It was a municipal 
act, as well as an act of the members of the church, 
in their ecclesiastical capacity. This was, indeed, 
an error of our fathers, which later experience has 
corrected. But with them, the hearts of all so 
united in the work, that it made little difference in 
the first century. 

The first step was to assemble all the church, and 
appoint a day of public fasting and prayer, that God 
would guide them in the selection of a candidate 
for the pastoral office. From sunset till sunset 
again, the entire people faded, literally. In every 
house, the reading of the Scriptures and prayer oc- 



HOME. 



cupied the intervals of public worship. Commonly 
some neighboring pastor preached to them two 
sermons, appropriate to their condition, and to the 
solemn duties connected with their objects. Those 
long, long sermons ! Each from two to four hours 
long ! How did our fathers and mothers endure 
it, even in summer weather, not to speak of the 
cold, icy winter's day, when the sun had no power 
to melt the icicle on the sheltered south eaves, and 
neither stove nor fireplace shed a genial glow over 
any part of their vast wooden edifices for worship. 
Their faith warmed them, or else they were made 
of sterner stuff than their children. 

Then followed the appointment of a committee 
of the wisest men of the church to take the advise 
of the neighboring churches and pastors respecting 
a candidate, unless, indeed, one of eminent gifts 
was at hand, respecting whom no such advice 
could be needed. 

The candidate came. For six months or a year 
he " went in and out before the people," preached 
the word, visited the sick, comforted the afflicted, 
taught the young, counselled the aged. In a word, 
he discharged, as he was able, all the offices of a 
pastor. Even all this did not decide his settle- 
ment, in every case. Another day of prayer and 
fasting was observed, "to know the mind of the 



HOME. 



Spirit whether He would call" the candidate to 
the permanent discharge of these duties. If any 
doubt remained, the matter was still deferred, and 
other days of prayer set apart. Then, if the people 
were united, the advice of the surrounding churches 
and pastors was sought ; not, indeed, as having any 
binding control over their choice, but as a matter of 
brotherly affection and courtesy. Then followed 
the solemn services of the ordination. No wonder 
that the pastoral relation, so maturely formed, was 
an enduring bond, that nothing but death, or the 
misconduct of the pastor could sever. Care was 
needed, in forming ties, so sacred in their objects, 
with which the spiritual welfare of an entire gene- 
ration was to be bound up. 

Before the final decision, the people, in their mu- 
nicipal capacity, assembled to provide, in a suita- 
ble manner, for the support of their pastor, so that 
no grinding necessity might compel him to neglect 
his study for the labors of the field ; though it was 
not deemed improper for him to sow and reap his 
own glebe, as well as scatter the seeds of spiritual 
life, and gather in the harvest of immortality. 

At these meetings, as well as on the ordinary 
Sabbath services, every person, of every age, not in 
actual attendance on the sick, was expected to be 
present. Causeless absence was noted, the offend- 



HOME. 



23 



er visited and tenderly reproved. And, if admoni- 
tion did not avail, he was fined, as an offender 
against the rules of good morals, as well as the 
laws of God's house. We deem this unwise ; but 
our fathers, erroneous as they were in some things, 
judged rightly of the value of social worship, both 
to the morals and spiritual well-being of man. 

The pious, in every generation, have their modes 
of imparting religious instruction to the young. 
Our fathers knew its vital import, as well as we. 
In every family that feared God, family instruction 
was given on the Sabbath, and from day to day, 
" rising up early and teaching them " to walk in the 
path of life. The pastor, too, every month, assem- 
bled the youth, not merely to hear the catechism, 
but to give such lessons on its great truths as were 
adapted to their age. 

I do not wonder that errorists ridicule that old 
catechism ! Its quaint terms, half obsolete, save in 
books of technical theology, cannot obscure the 
brightness and logical harmony of the great truths 
it contains. And it is a foolish undervaluing of the 
intellectual powers of our children, to suppose that 
most of them cannot understand these primary doc- 
trines of the Bible, stated in logical form, as well as 
when clothed in the attractions of parable, or story. 
Error can never gain control over the conscience, 



24 HOME. 

when the mind is imbued with clear, logical con- 
ceptions of these divine truths. 

In both the parishes of Home, the raring piety of 
our fathers made ample provision, by large vested 
funds, for the permanent support of the ministry. 
I say ' erring f for it is far better to leave to every 
generation the duty, and blessing too, of feeding 
their spiritual guides, by their own free-will offer- 
ings. They love their pastor more, because they 
impart to him their " carnal things," in return for 
the spiritual joy, peace and comfort they derive from 
his labors. The widest observation proves that the 
pastor's dependence does not diminish his fidelity. 
It is the reverse, with all who are fitted, either by 
nature or grace to preach the gospel at all. And 
those who best "commend themselves to every 
man's conscience, in the sight of God," by a plain 
and loving exhibition of the guilt of man, and the 
glory of the cross will always, or almost always, 
find the most liberal support. 

For more than a century the hopes and prayers of 
the fathers of Home were justified by the general 
piety, pure morality, and high intelligence of their 
descendants. 

One instance of their superiority over the general 
prejudices of their age, I am too proud of to omit. 
The witchcraft delusion, after destroying thou- 



HOME. 



sands of lives in every part of Protestant and Catho- 
lic Europe, began to infect the land of the Pilgrims 
also. For a brief period, the popular delusion was 
strong. The wisest magistrates, the profoundest 
scholars, the most devout ministers were carried 
away with it. In a few instances even death was 
inflicted upon victims, not more deluded than those 
who adjudged their doom. But, even when the 
frenzy was at its height there were not wanting wise 
and good men who pitied the weakness they could 
not help censuring ; and who deemed a merciful 
forbearance a better remedy for popular delusion 
than the hangman's scourge and rope. The people 
of Home from the very first, resisted the mania. 
Their enlightened members of the Governor's coun- 
cil, and of the Legislature, with the hearty concur- 
rence of both pastors and people, strove to rescue 
the supposed witches from their fate, and to repeal 
the sanguinary edicts against them. It is a matter 
of history that their efforts were ultimately crowned 
with success. Intelligence so much in advance of 
their age, firmness in resisting a force to which a 
Hale and a Mather yielded, deserve high praise. I 
am proud of my early Home. 

The causes that dimmed the lustre of the most 
fine gold, in their details, I reserve for another chap- 
ter. Some general thoughts will close this, 
3 



26 



HOME. 



There are two generic modes in which a reli- 
gious community become corrupted. Their moral- 
ity may be debased, while their attachment to cor- 
rect theoretical truths is not, at first, abated. Or, 
their faith in sound doctrines may be shaken, with- 
out affecting the tone of social morals, often for a 
long period. 

Both these modes of corruption destroy spiritual 
life in the soul, equally. " Faith without works is 
dead, living alone," no matter how strong it may be, 
or with how vivid feelings it may be connected. 
And the most correct outward life will not obtain 
the pardon of our sin; for "the just shall live by 
faith." 

The evil of a dead faith, besides separating the 
soul from God, will certainly, in the end, destroy 
good morals. Dead faith has fruits ; but they are 
bitter as the apples of Sodom. 

The evil of impure living will, in the end, destroy 
correct faith ; for sinners, determined to live in sin, 
" will not hear sound doctrine," but " heap to them- 
selves teachers," who will connive at their sins, and 
persuade them they are in the road to heaven, 
while the pit is wide open to devour them alive. 

Such are the restraints thrown around the minis- 
try, that corruption in morals seldom begins with 
them. But the world has but one example,— that 



HOME. 



27 



of Swedenborg — of errors in the theory of the faith 
which do not spring from the teachers of religion. 
Examples of both modes of corruption are common 
enough in all ages and in every land. Our own 
supplies many. When men begin to regard reli- 
gion as something intended for the Sabbath, the 
sick bed, or old age, instead of the guide of their 
daily life in all its actions, civil, as well as individ- 
ual and social, it is easy to see that their faith is dy- 
ing ; it will soon be dead. They may still have 
deep and pervading religious excitements, and call 
them " revivals." There may be a keen sense of 
sin, humiliation ; followed by peace, joy, rapture ! 
The human soul is naturally devout. The worship- 
per of Brahma and Guadama may have as sincere 
and profound emotion as the follower of Christ. Is 
his heart purified ? His life gives the answer. The 
Spanish pirate had his priests. With profound hu- 
mility, with many tears, with deep remorse, with 
penance and scourges he bought absolution ; then 
filled with hope, he returned to his work of butch- 
ery. The slaveholder of our land, often professes a 
correct creed, has clear views of the divine charac- 
ter, sees the evil of sin, in general, humbles him- 
self, finds peace, and deems himself forgiven. Then 
he turns to make the poor work without wages, 
sells the righteous in the market, "a boy, for a har- 



26 



HOME. 



lot, a girl, for a pair of shoes and tears asunder 
the ties of nature and love. Still he thinks he is a 
child of God. The debased morals of churches 
that allow slavery has been very widely followed by 
doctrinal errors, far more widely than northern men 
are aware. Popular preaching, in these churches, 
more and more fails to exhibit the humbling doc- 
trines of the cross, and becomes merely eloquent 
appeals to the natural feelings and sympathies, or 
acquired tastes of the audience. Among the more 
ignorant classes, dreams and delusions more gross 
than witchcraft, and animal — or if you will — mag- 
netic excitements, as baleful as they are foolish, take 
the place of a correct faith and pure life. 

Instances of the other form of corruption are 
found, among us, in small sects, and in individuals. 
My narrative will supply many. Though, in a com- 
munity like New England, where the public law is 
one, for the rich and the poor ; where no man's 
vices are screened by his dependance or his power ; 
where in every town some correct religious faith 
and practice sheds light on the lingering darkness) 
even gross religious errors cannot debase the morals 
of social life, so soon, or so widely, as happens in 
the other class of cases. 

Besides, as this form of corruption begins always 
with the ministers, those who preach a lax faith, in 



HOME. 



29 



doctrines, are often the more eager to enforce a 
correct outward deportment and amiable manner. 
They have lost the highest sources of power to en- 
force a pure life ; but they may be diligent in using 
the influences that remain. As they declare heav- 
en depends on correct morals and amiable social 
conduct, they often succeed in forming such char- 
acters as that of the young ruler, who lacked but 
" one thing," the spirit of self-denying love that 
should have given harmony to the inner and out- 
ward man. 

This class of teachers are eager to show that 
without the cross, without an atoning Saviour, and 
a sanctifying Spirit, they can make men as lovely 
in their social life, as pure in morals, as free from 
acts of dishonor or dishonesty, as those who com- 
bine evangelical faith with the same teachings of 
morality. In a town where purifying agencies of 
greater power once acted, or still exist, with some 
power, they succeed in many instances. 

" When Jesus looked upon him, he loved " the 
young ruler. As he looks down from his throne 
in glory, where he still wears man's loving nature 
and human sympathies, no doubt he loves, in the 
same degree, the amiable fruits of the labors of 
these teachers. " But one thing thou lackest." 
The life of faith they do not live. The heart of 
3* 



30 



HOME. 



love for divine purity, justice and goodness they do 
not possess. They will " go away sorrowful " from 
the gates of glory, which they thought would so 
certainly open to receive them. 

So then, the emotion, the enthusiasm of faith may 
exist, in connection with a corrupt morality. 

And amiable manners and correct morals may 
remain after correct ideas of the gospel of salvation 
are lost. 

The one is "faith without works." Can faith 
save him ? The other is " works without faith." 
Is a man justified by works only ? Neither is an 
example of true religion. In that, " faith works by 
love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world." 

The spirit of life within throws around the out- 
ward life the glory, the sweetness, the peace and 
beauty of its own nature. 



HOME. 



31 



CHAPTER II. 

The gold dimmed — Causes — ( 1 ) civil rights conferred on 
church members only — (2) Half-way covenant — True 
view of the sacraments — (3) Worldly churches will have 
worldly ministers — Whitefield rejected — Teachers of er- 
ror — (4) Influence of the Ee volution — The way the 
tories paid taxes — War no friend of Christ. 

One hundred years rolled away, without one of 
those blessed seasons of refreshing from the pres- 
ence of the Lord, which has taken the name of a 
" revival." The light of holy living and pure faith 
went out, and death reigned where the power and 
living beauty of the faith had been so nobly mani- 
fested, in the earlier periods of the annals of Home. 
The fathers slept, and their sons built their sepul- 
chres, but failed to inherit their mantles of piety. 

The causes of this sad change were many. Some 
of them of a general and public nature ; others lo- 
cal, though not without many examples elsewhere. 

The earliest source of corruption, in which the 
churches of Home shared, in common with many 
others, was one of the errors of our fathers. They 
wished to base their civil polity entirely on the 



32 



HOME. 



maxims and principles of religion. The wish was 
laudable ; the means of attaining it, an educated, 
pious ministry, free, self-governed churches, faith- 
ful instruction of their household, a sanctified Sab- 
bath, universal free education, were most wisely 
adapted to the end. To these, other measures of a 
more doubtful character were added. The most in- 
jurious was the law by which civil rights were con- 
fined to members of the churches. This was full 
of evil, in every way. it was a powerful motive to 
a mere formal and hypocritical profession of a faith 
in which the heart had no share. As every mind 
w r as imbued with the theory of a correct faith, and 
more or less familiar with the outlines of religious 
experience, both by reading and from often listen- 
ing to its details ; such a hollow profession was not 
very difficult, when the outward life of the candi- 
date did not compel the church to exclude him. 
Indeed such was the real respect for religion, in the 
popular mind, that such professions did not always 
involve conscious hypocrisy. The worldly motive 
gave unconscious power to the effects of religious 
education. So have I seen the carefully trained chil- 
dren of Christian families admitted to the church- 
es, without any want of sincerity or emotion, on 
either part, but with faint evidence indeed that the 
love of God had been shed abroad in their hearts 
by the Holy Spirit. 



HOME. 



83 



So, when men of correct lives, wealth, talent and 
energy, punctual in their attention to the forms of 
religion, sought admission to the church, as a means 
of obtaining civil rights, it became a very difficult 
matter to exclude them. 

Slowly, but certainly, the churches were filled 
with worldly men ; amiable in their life, but with- 
out living faith in the cross. 

It is true, the civil law referred to was repealed 
at an early day. But the influence of it long re- 
mained. It was necessary to a man's good repute, 
and it smoothed the path to influence and honor to 
belong to the church, long after the law ceased to 
require it. No churches suffered more from this 
cause than the rich and intelligent churches of 
Home. With a single exception, in an adjacent 
town, they were the first in the land to show the 
evil fruits of it. 

At a somewhat later period they drank deeply of 
the evils that flowed from what is known as the 
" half- way-covenant," by which, without any per- 
sonal profession of their faith, parents were allowed 
to present their children for baptism, and covenant, 
before God and man, to train them up in the pre- 
cepts of a faith whose power they neither acknow- 
ledged nor felt, in their own souls. This was, it is 
true, only the resumption of one of the long con- 



34 



HOME. 



tinued and early corruptions of the church, against 
which the Puritan fathers had protested. Their 
clear, anointed eyes saw the folly and sin of the 
baptism of merely nominal Christians and their 
children, as the persecuting church from which they 
fled then practised, and still did. It was only a 
mockery of faith for parents to take God's name 
and covenant on their lips, when His love did not 
fill their hearts. 

True, the eloquence and zeal of a Stoddard re- 
vived the custom, with reference mainly to another 
idea ; but that was one of the most noxious of the 
errors of the Papal church. It was, that the sacra- 
ments and offices of religion had in themselves a 
sanctifying power ; or, at least, impenitent men 
were to use them to obtain it ; a principle which 
has no legitimate application to anything but the 
hearing of the word and prayer ; and to the last, in 
a restricted sense, only. Indeed, there is very little 
natural relation between the symbols of Christianity, 
and the idea we connect with them, in the sacra- 
ments. Anything else might represent the body, or 
love of the dying Saviour, as well as bread. It is 
chosen because it is the commonest article, in daily 
use, that we may never eat without "discerning the 
Lord's body," if our hearts are rilled with His love. 
The fruit of the vine has no possible analogy to 



HOME. 



those spiritual changes in the affections of the soul 
which faith in the atoning blood, or offered free 
pardon of Christ effects. Nor has the water of 
baptism, applied to the cleansing of the body any 
but a remote analogy to the changes the Holy Spirit 
produces in the heart, when love, joy and peace 
take the place of selfishness, sorrow and remorse. 
It is only as the clear intellect and pure heart dwell 
on the ideas and truths associated with these out- 
ward symbols, that they have any more influence in 
sanctifying our nature than the occupation of killing 
and dressing sheep, bullocks and goats, in which 
the priesthood under the old law were so much 
employed. All these sacrifices and forms are a 
system of Mnemonics, designed to connect holy and 
sanctifying truths with familiar acts, such as the 
preparation and use of articles of food and drink, 
and the purifying of the body, by daily ablutions. 
The spiritual heart never eats bread or drinks water, 
but the self denying love that bled on the cross, and 
the grace that proffers free pardon and renovated 
affections is more or less present to the mind. The 
sacraments are only more formal, and highly ne- 
cessary and useful mementoes of the same truths. 
So Christ seeks to connect himself with our familiar 
acts, that " every thought may be brought into cap- 
tivity to the obedience of Christ," or regulated by the 



36 



HOME. 



same holy love that governed his acts of suffering 
and grace. 

The crowd of these baptized semi-church mem- 
bers, whose outward life was free from any serious 
reproach, and who constantly attended on the forms 
of worship, yet never or seldom were taught the 
value of piety and prayer by parental example, soon 
became very great. Their admission to the other 
sacraments, and all the rights of membership, it 
was very difficult to resist. The number of world- 
ly members in the churches became very great. 
From this class not a few were taken to supply the 
want of religious teachers. Serious, perhaps de- 
vout, such men, without heartfelt piety, could not 
be expected to preach with fidelity the doctrines of 
the cross by which the pride of man is abased, and 
all his glory counted as dross. They did not. A 
large class of worldly ministers soon filled the pul- 
pits. Learned, often eminent for their talents and 
eloquence, they won the popular favor, and became, 
in many instances, the advocates of religious doc- 
trines that accorded better with the state of their 
own hearts, unrenewed by divine grace, than with 
the teachings of the Bible. 

It is only a matter of justice to acknowledge the 
aid and influence of our Baptist brethren, in ban- 
ishing a second time, from the Puritan churches 



HOME. 



37' 



this child of English Episcopacy and Popery. Every 
sect exercises an influence in correcting the errors 
of others ; while important truths are only cherish- 
ed with a heartier zeal. 

That the writings of Belsham, Priestly and others 
had some influence on a few of the educated men 
of Home is beyond doubt. Still, on minds not pre- 
viously prepared for them, by the causes adverted 
to, and other agencies of like character, they had 
little power. No reasonings ever led a truly con- 
verted man to deny the doctrines of depravity and 
regeneration. No arguments against the Deity and 
atonement of our Saviour ever shook the faith of 
one who enjoyed daily communion with him. But 
the reasoning intellect not irradiated by the love of 
the Spirit, is more easily led astray. 

The more local causes of declension at Home are 
not without general interest. For the causes that 
affect the spiritual life of communities are much 
the same, everywhere. 

Almost one hundred years ago, after the death of 
a venerable and faithful pastor, under whose min- 
istry the last " revival" had occurred, a young man, 
eminent for his learning, his winning manners, his 
fervid eloquence, but without the love of God in 
his heart, became a candidate for settlement. Won 
by his attractive qualities, more than usual haste 
4 



33 



HOME. 



was made to engage him to become the pastor of 
one of the churches. Amiable and correct in his 
deportment, this young man had imbibed views 
approaching as nearly to Deism as those of any of 
his successors in our time. There was no dissent 
from doctrines contained in the creed of the church, 
and cherished in the hearts of the pious. He avoid- 
ed the discussion of them, or else, endeavored, as 
he said, to divest them of the needless philosophy 
of other days in which they were clothed. Whether, 
like some in our day, he had discovered errors in 
the ethical views of the apostles, I know not. But 
his preaching was not such as the fathers loved. 
The worldly part of the church were pleased with 
one who did not disturb them with new demands 
on their affections, in God's behalf It was known 
that he was not a "high-toned Calvinist," as spirit- 
ual men already began to be called. But few sus- 
pected that he did not believe in the modified faith 
of the "moderates" of the time. His brief minis- 
try, brief for those days, ten years, was closed by 
his death. But the poison distilled so sweetly from 
his lips had spread widely, and prepared the way 
for his successor. 

Nearly contemporary with him, in the other 
church, presided one of the fairest intellects that 
adorned the annals of New Ed gland, afterwards the 



HOME. 



39 



head of our leading University. Predominant in 
genius, varied and profound learning, eloquence 
that charmed the wisest into, at least a momenta- 
ry forgetfulness of his errors, this eminent man 
united a deep rooted hostility to spiritual religion, 
with those doctrinal errors by which, alone, he is 
now widely known to mankind. He was the first 
author in our land who sought to shake the faith 
of men in the justice of the retributions of eternity. 
Every scholar has read his treatise, and the reply to 
it by the Master Spirit of that age, and yet the hum- 
ble preacher of a spiritual faith. 

The great errorist did not so openly assail the 
other doctrines of the Bible. He hinted doubts 
whether the depravity of the heart was entire ; 
whether man's dependance on divine grace was 
complete ; urged more strongly man's freedom of 
action ; and dwelt chiefly, in his preaching, on the 
effects of religion on the social charities of life. 

His eloquence in the pulpit, and the influence of 
his writings did very much to shake the faith of the 
younger part of the people in Home, and all the 
surrounding country. Two such eloquent and pop- 
ular men, both without Christ in their hearts, both 
avoiding every doctrine obnoxious to human pride ; 
both learned, commanding the respect of all their 
generation, might have made shipwreck of the faith 



40 



HOME. 



of the people, almost, had no other agencies been 
at work for that end. If they could not move the 
matured disciple from his steadfastness, they might, 
and did prepare a new race, to stand in the room 
of their pious fathers, without the same zeal for 
pure principles and holy living. What lessons are 
these of the need of looking first for holiness, next 
for soundness in the faith of those to whom we en- 
trust the care of souls ! I speak of both of these 
men as without spirituality. An unconverted min- 
ister, in that age, was not very rare, as the records 
of the times too certainly prove. The churches, 
grown worldly, sought and found pastors after then- 
own hearts, and those who avoided the " offence of 
the cross" voted themselves the "enlightened," 
the " liberal party " of their day. Endowed with in- 
tellectual resources, many of them were above their 
fellows. But their wisdom was that of " this world," 
which is " foolishness with God." 

One fact deserves mention, both as an instance 
and a proof of the feelings of the great man. No 
one now doubts — whatever may be his creed — that 
Wesley and Whitefield were " chosen vessels " of 
mercy to revive spiritual life in the Protestant world. 
The one founded a community, tireless in their be- 
neficent labors for the good of man. The other, 
though he gave his name to no sect, exerted per- 



HOME. 



41 



haps a wider influence, by his preaching, in reviv- 
ing the life of religion in all sects. His sermons 
were not very logical or didactic. But with an el- 
oquence never surpassed, and a pathos that moved 
the heart, "day and night, with tears" he preached 
the simple and majestic doctrines of redemption. 
The worldly ministers and churches resisted his la- 
bors. But to all who received him, God made him 
the source of the richest spiritual gifts. The pas- 
tors of Home not only refused to receive White- 
field, or bid him God speed ! but took the lead in 
the remonstrances of the worldly lovers of ease 
against his labors. 

Such a " comet " was not to be suffered. Such 
" excitements crazed men," instead of imbuing their 
minds with " rational views of religion." The peo- 
ple followed the example of their pastors, and the pall 
of spiritual death gathered more darkly over them. 

The creeds of the churches were still adhered to 
in form ; and sounder models of a saving faith are 
seldom to be found; but it is doubtful whether at 
this period, one half the people believed them. 

I shall not confine myself to precise dates or the 
order of events. The war of the Revolution follow- 
ed, preceded by years of bloody struggle with the 
French and Indians, in which many a soldier from 
Home gallantly discharged a soldier's duty. 
4* 



42 



HOME. 



War is the scourge of God, with which he chas- 
tises guilty nations. When waged for the noblest 
objects, to obtain or preserve civil, personal or re- 
ligious liberty, it is still a fearful curse. It substi- 
tutes the law of force for the rules of right and jus- 
tice. It sanctions every disregard of the rights of 
mankind, given them by God their Creator, in or- 
der to inflict the greatest possible evils on those 
whom we are bound to love as our brethren, and 
to benefit as the sons of one father. Property, pu- 
rity, honor, life, all fall a sacrifice to its power. And 
no man can inflict such evils upon another without 
diminishing in his own heart, the sense of the sa- 
cred nature of the obligation to respect all these, in 
all men. God never made one man or nation to be 
the enemy of another. Wars and fightings are the 
product of " lusts," wicked passions alone. The 
" religious " wars that followed the Reformation al- 
most destroyed the immediate spiritual benefits of 
that great awakening of the human soul to light and 
pardon. Our own Revolution, though exempt from 
some of the evils that have followed in the train of 
war, brought curses as well as blessings with it I 
speak not of the sacking and burning of towns, the 
plundering of the hamlet and farm, the waste of 
life and vast loss of property in other forms. All 
these are evils that pass away in half a generation, 



HOME. 



43 



and are forgotten. But the moral results of that 
contest were not all such as the patriot and the 
Christian could desire. 

The French soldiery brought with them the 
coarse, brutal, but witty infidelity then rife in their 
native land. Multitudes of our youth, and even 
eminent statesmen were carried away captive by 
the ridicule of Voltaire, the eloquence of Rosseau, 
and the sophisms of Bayle, Diderot, D'Alembert and 
their co-laborers in the bold attempt to " crush the 
wretch," as the shallow wit of Fermay dared to call 
that Glorious One " in whom dwelleth all the full- 
ness of the Godhead, bodily." 

Despite the efforts of Washington to repress both, 
profane swearing and intemperance became com- 
mon in the army, among both officers and soldiers. 
It is said that a profane oath was never known, in 
Home, before the war. The vice became frequent, 
on the return of the soldiers. Home was a patriot- 
ic town. She supplied more soldiers to the army 
than any town in the country, in proportion to the 
population. The bones of her sons repose in every 
battle-field, from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. But of 
those who survived, alas, many returned to scourge 
their families by their intemperance, and defile the 
ears of their children by their curses. The young 
are eager imitators. Their nature is seen in the 



44 



HOME. 



readiness with which they run, not walk, in the 
road that leads to death. The generation that fol- 
lowed learned a full measure of these pernicious 
ways. 

As the bitterness of that contest has long since 
passed away, and the descendants of whig and to- 
ry alike enjoy and rejoice in the blessings of equal 
liberty, we can afford to do justice to those who 
were then spoken of as " enemies of their country," 
I mean the tories. It is beyond question true, that 
many of the wisest, purest, most pious, liberty-lov- 
ing men of that age opposed the war, froni its be- 
ginning to its close. Some few really preferred a 
monarchy. iVmong the patriot statesmen, after the 
war, even, such a party existed ! Many more were 
averse to severing the ties that bound them to the 
mother country, at least, till oppression took forms 
less capable of endurance. Some did not see why 
subjects who claimed the rights secured by the 
Common Law of England, should not be governed 
by the authority of the king and parliament who 
were the public ministers of that law. Others were 
men of peace, hating and dreading civil snife ; but, 
when it was over, quite ready to enjoy its results. 

The tories had one of two courses before them, 
when Independence was once declared. They 
must abandon their homes, and all their property 



HOME. 



45 



they could not carry with them, and enlist in the 
British army, or flee to foreign lands ; or else, they 
must remain in quiet, waiting for the event, and 
submitting to all the exactions of their more patri- 
otic brethren. And it is capable of ample proof, 
that the whigs made their tory neighbors pay far 
more than their share of all the expenses of a war 
opposed both to their principles and wishes. 

Nearly an hundred of the most substantial farm- 
ers of Home were tories, in feeling. The town re- 
cords show that, at one time, as many as sixty were 
placed under the special surveillance of the Com- 
mittee of Safety ; the helpless lamb in the lion's 
mouth was not more sure of being made a victim ! 
It is amusing to read over the doings of our patriot- 
ic sires ! Large requisitions often came from Head 
Quarters for supplies for the troops. Was clothing 
wanting for the naked soldiers at Valley Forge ? 
The Committee of Safety discovered that their tory 
brethren had sheared more sheep, and woven more 
cloth, by far, than the whigs. Were provisions 
needed? Everyone knew that the tories' crops 
were better than those of their neighbors' ! They 
had nothing else to do, but to till the ground ! Was 
money wanted to pay the valiant defenders of their 
country ? The whigs were ready to sacrifice life, 
but they, the tories, had such hordes of English 



46 



HOME. 



gold ! So, in all cases, the requisition was met, in 
chief, by levying contributions on the defenceless 
tories. " It was but just that the enemies of the lib- 
erties of the people should be made to pay for their 
want of patriotism." Much as our whig fathers and 
mothers sacrificed on the altar of their country, no 
one, who has looked into the local annals of that 
time can doubt that the resident tories were taxed 
far more for the expenses of the war. They would 
not peril limb or life ; but in every other form they 
must serve their country ! Happily, the grandson 
of a member of the Committee of Safety— the tax 
levying power of that day — can sit with the grand- 
child of the then tory,and smile at the deeds of 76, 
and rejoice in the freedom secured both by the per- 
ils and trials of the time. But the disregard of the 
common laws and rights of property, and the feel- 
ings of good neighborhood and social life was not 
without effect in hastening the decay of piety, where 
its fires already burned so dim. Alienations, jeal- 
ousies, revenge, remembered scorn and party bit- 
terness, the inevitable fruits of civil strife, are not 
found in the catalogue of the graces of the Spirit. 
The public mind was so entirely absorbed in the 
great conflict, that even the forms of Sabbath wor- 
ship were often forgotten, and family prayer omit- 
ted in many a dwelling, whose heads were fighting 



HOME. 



47 



their country's battles, or maddened by whig taxes 
to support a cause they hated. 

Down to the beginning of that war, hardly a fam- 
ily or an individual was ever needlessly absent from 
public worship. In almost every house, certainly 
in all those of church-members, social worship and 
the instruction of the young were not neglected. 
" Oh yes, I larnH all that, in my young days," was 
the remark of an aged, and profane woman to me, 
when I reproved her for her sins. " We all larn't 
the catechise, in them days, and said it to our min- 
ister ; but I never was much the better for it." It 
was too true. Her father, after fighting his country's 
battles, died a drunkard. I would not have the 
reader think that such inelegant phrases are com- 
mon in Home. They are very rare. But I often 
think of that old woman — one who was very kind 
to me in childhood, — as one of the sorrowful results 
of the want of an example of the power of religion 
in the parents, before the eyes of the young — one 
of the kindest hearts God ever made in a woman's 
breast was embittered against the truth by a drunk- 
en father's influence. Of all the scores of our pa- 
triot soldiers, I can recall but four or five who died 
with the Christian's hope. Oh how many went 
down to the dark, dishonored grave of the drunkard ! 
And few of the first generation of their descend- 



48 HOME. 

ants showed any more proofs of spiritual life. From 
the grosser evils of war Home was happily exempt; 
but its moral desolations were deeply felt, and there 
was less of the power of religion, than in many 
places, to resist them. Too grateful to our fathers, 
we cannot be, for the legacy of freedom they left 
us. But that should not close our eyes to the evds 
of warfare, even to obtain blessings so great. Let 
us learn the lesson— so debasing to the glory of fall- 
en man, that a warlike people will certainly become 
depraved in morals. The highest glories are those 
of peace. When the world's history is reviewed at 
the Judgment, and re-written in the future life, the 
man of peace will take the place of the soldier as 
the only real benefactor of his kind. Hasten, O 
Lord, that day, when, 

" No war, nor battle's sound, 
Is heard the earth around," 

but Christ, the Prince of Peace shall reign over a 
world of holy hearts! 



HOME. 



49 



CHAPTER III. 

Like people, like priest — The worldly pastor described — 
The deist in the pulpit — Church discipline neglected — 
Religious ideas lost — The heart wiser than the intellect 
— The deacon's faith — Pure faith connected with pros- 
perity — The ball. 

A worldly flock will not have a spiritual shep- 
herd. Those who love sin do not love to be re- 
proved for it, nor will they, commonly, bear it, un- 
less the reproofs of the -faithful pastor are enforced 
by examples of holy living, and his hands are stay- 
ed up by fervent prayer. 

Not far from the close of the French War, a pas- 
tor was settled in one of our churches, who was 
eminent for almost everything but fidelity to a pas- 
tor's proper duties. A patriot he was ; none loved 
his country better ; none more ready to serve her 
and exhort others to do so, in the hour of her peril. 
A statesman was he ; none were more capable of 
sound judgment respecting the measures of gov- 
ernment; few more decided in the expression of 
their views. A gentleman, in manners ; dignified, 
courteous, refined, at least in his earlier life ; amia- 
5 



50 HOME. 

ble in his manners and feelings. A scholar; few 
wore the honors of their Alma Mater with a better 
grace; he deserved them. A wit; the country 
round, to the end of time, will remember his dry 
jests, his proverbial sayings, often full of point and 
practical wisdom. A farmer ; his sermons on ag- 
riculture, on soils, on the culture of fruit, on bees, 
on cattle and sheep, on every interest of the bus- 
handman, would do honor to the orator of a Cattle 
Fair. They were of much service to the labor of 
the town. He ever inculcated industry as the 
highest of social virtues. It does save multitudes 
from sin who would perish in it, if they lived an 
idle life. 

He was social in his habits; a good companion 
to the young and old was the pastor ; none more so. 
Every one welcomed him, for they expected in- 
struction or amusement, but-fatal defect!— not a 
reproof for their sinful life, or a warning to repent. 
He had a fund of common sense ; no better coun- 
selor could he found in the affairs of life, none was 
resorted to with so much confidence. He was re- 
spected and loved, but not for his fidelity to the 
souls of his people. 

That he believed in the doctrine of the Trinity, 
his papers show. But he held it to be too myste- 
rious to preach upon it. Selfish, he knew men to 



HOME. 



51 



be ; some of bis keenest maxims are hits at man's 
natural tendency to sin. But no faithful picture of 
our fallen nature, no warning to " flee from the 
wrath to come," fell from his lips. He used to say 
that his " young people were very good ; he should 
not trouble them with the doctrine of a new birth ; 
he would be bound for them !" The atoning Sa- 
viour he did not know, the cross he did not preach. 
True, he never derided the great Hope of the guilty ; 
but he allowed a whole generation to live without 
that Hope. 

He was an acute judge and delineator of char- 
acter. His funeral prayers contained a minute 
sketch of the deceased person's life, and a shrewd, 
often very humorous delineation of his virtues and 
foibles, and even of his manners and personal pe- 
culiarities. Crowds attended his funeral services 
to hear this treat ; a scene sometimes painful to 
those who were not his friends. It was commonly 
said that he " prayed all his people into heaven," 
though it was sometimes dryly added, " he had very 
hard work with such an one !" There was no rever- 
ence, no humility in his prayers ; and people forgot 
the solemnity of an approach to the throne of God. 

The catechetical instruction of the young he laid 
aside, on the plea that it was not suited for their tender 
minds. Nor did he ever substitute any other form 



52 HOME. 

of imparting the truths of the gospel to them. The 
young treasured up bis proverbs, but these bad lit- 
tle to do with Christ or the way of life. At his 
death, there was not one young person, of either 
sex, belonging to his church! The use of the 
creed was finally laid aside, in the admission of 
members. Persons of good moral life, were never 
objected to as members, because they had not been 
bom of the Spirit. All inquiries into the state of 
their hearts ceased. It was customary, in the re- 
spectable circles, to unite with the church on the 
occasion of marriage, the birth of children, or in 
seasons of affliction. It was respectable to do so. 
Still, the members of the church constantly lessen- 
ed, till few remained who had not reached middle 
life. Gradually it ceased to be expected that mem- 
bers of the church would maintain family worship, 
on week days, or at all. At a more recent period I 
can well remember when only two of that church 
ever prayed in public, or in then families. But one 
church officer did so. 

The pastor visited his people ; the wealthy, edu- 
cated, and refined, often ; but nearly all once a year. 
But the objects of pastoral visits, the instruction of 
the family, and the acquaintance with the spiritual 
wants of the individual members of it, personal ex- 
hortation to holy living, and even prayer were for- 



HOME. 



53 



gotten. As he advanced in life, many ceased to be 
visited at all. In his, and his successor's time, some 
families could say, "no minister has entered our 
house for thirty years, save at a wedding or a fu- 
neral." 

As pastoral visits ceased or lost their appropriate 
character, the people began very extensively to neg- 
lect public worship, save at intervals, that grew 
more and more rare. When the pastor ceased to 
teach the young, parents soon followed the evil ex- 
ample. Family worship, and family instruction 
became almost equally rare. The poor, and the 
distant members of the flock, not attracted by the 
preaching of the cross, or warned by a faithful 
pastor, ceased to frequent the house of God. 

In the other church, the like causes had pro- 
duced to some extent, the same results, though a 
spiritual pastor had succeeded the great teacher of 
error, and his labors had fanned awhile the decay- 
ing spark of holiness. 

Thus lived and died a whole generation who 
" knew not the Lord," with few exceptions. There 
was very little positive error prevalent, at the close 
of this period ; none in an active or organized form, 
to deceive the simple. There was not enough of 
spiritual truth exhibited to alarm the corrupt heart, 
and lead it to seek any theoretical " refuge of lies" 
5* 



HOME. 



to soothe the awakened conscience. The pastors to 
whom I listened in my childhood were little calcu- 
lated to restore the lost soul of religion, the spirit 
of love. They are both in their graves, hi their 
eternity. I loved them both, I loved their children. 
I would speak of them with tenderness. But were 
they Goi's ministers? One of them was a man 
amiable in his social character, gentle in his man- 
ners, a lover of children. Respectable as a preach- 
er, he rather alluded to, than uttered the truths of 
religion, which yet he did not really mean to de- 
ny. Probably, till near the close of life, he lived 
without piety in his own soul. Still, those who 
preferred preaching more directly addressed to the 
conscience, and that which approached nearer to 
the good old gospel of salvation, preferred him to 
his co-laborer. There was not enough of vital 
power to rekindle the flame of pure religion ; not 
enough of error or obvious want of truth to destroy 
the piety that other causes had induced. Of the 
other, it was once said, that his head was a huge 
lumber garret, fulFof every kind of learning, which 
he lacked the skill to use. A poet by nature, his 
sermons were often beautiful ; solemn they never 
were. Elegant in person, and, when he chose, in 
manners also, his pride made him unsocial with the 
poor and obscure of the flock. Visits, save to a 



HOME, 



00 



few favorites among the wealthy, he never made. 
Few believed that he prayed in secret. His pub- 
lic prayers were well described by a rude but clear 
headed laborious man, as u very handsome com- 
pliments to the Almighty." I have listened to the 
prayers of men of every sect. It is often said that 
men will pray the truths they deny in their preach- 
ing. Not so with him. I never knew another man 
in whose prayers there was so little recognition of 
sin, our dependence, need of mercy, a Saviour, or 
a possible future retribution. With him, the Sa- 
viour was a man, simply ; a good one, though 
not free from imperfections in judgment or opin- 
ion. The writings of the apostles were imper- 
fect records of a gospel, which we were to be- 
lieve or reject, as their statement accorded with 
our own reason and advanced state of know- 
ledge. No sacrifice for sin was needed. The good- 
ness of God would overlook our imperfections, the 
result of weakness, more than intention. The 
heart was not depraved, but pure by nature, as an 
angel's; and needed only an appropriate educa- 
tion to fit it to mingle with them, if, indeed, there 
were angels. To be " born again," was to renounce 
heathenism, or Judaism. It applied to none in 
Christian lands, save those of openly immoral life. 
If there was any hell, there was no devil ! It was 



56 HOME. 

often said that our minister ■ had preached the 
devil out of town," though few exactly believed it! 
Eternal punishment was derided, the atonement 
scoifed at pretences to spiritual life scorned, evan- 
gelical faith habitually treated as a pitiable weak- 
ness, or fond superstition. Such were the les- 
sons of more than a quarter of a century. To such 
leSKHti 1 listened in my childhood. The doctrines 
he derided were never clearly stated; so that the 
people, having no other source of knowledge, were 
prejudiced against truths, the nature and import of 
which few of them knew. It is no strange thing 
that the churches became quite small. 

In all this period, church discipline was utterly 
ueo-lected. I can recall openly profane, drunken, 
lascivious persons, and those not in obscure life, 
who were quietlv tolerated in the church. Indeed, 
I remember hearing a sermon in which the right to 
define the terms of membership was ridiculed. 
The practice and theory accorded well. The bath 
torv of the church is everywhere full of warning 
to fidelity in discipline. Who would respect a 
church, when its richest member was openly al- 
Wed. without denial, to be an immoral man ? Why 
care about belonging to a church, when there was 
no record difference,^ life, spirit, 01 future hopes, 
between those who were, and those who were not 



H OME. 



57 



members of it ? Where a church is kept pure, by- 
faithful discipline, and the power of a living faith, 
it assimilates to its own purity the world around it. 
The same high tone of morals that reigns within, 
will also prevail around it, to the extent of its in- 
fluence. But where discipline casts no immoral 
person out of the church, the power of the church 
to purify the world is lost. 

I have often been struck with the dearth of re- 
ligious ideas, in communities situated as Home once 
was. Even the highly cultivated and literary, un- 
der such influences, have often not the least ac- 
quaintance with truths familiar to the children of a 
Christian household. One of the most intellectual 
women of Home, one not unknown in the litera- 
ture of the country, once wished me to explain 
what " we," (Christians) " meant by atonement. She 
had never known what ideas we attached to it." 
She was once a member of a church. But when, 
as sometimes happens, the Holy Spirit begins to 
teach persons so trained, and to open their eyes to 
a perception of spiritual things, the struggle of the 
mind with its own ignorance and errors is curious, 
as well as painful. Conversing, once, with one of 
the purest minds that adorn our land — a mind so 
trained, but taught in heart, by the Spirit, to an ex- 
tent far beyond her intellectual perceptions of the 



58 



HOME. 



truth, I saw evident proofs that the Life of God 
was begun in the soul. The spirit and power of 
Love was there. Self-denial was familiar. There 
was a deep sense, a personal conviction of inward 
depravity, that no teaching of man's native purity 
could shake. The worldly and spiritual were clear- 
ly discerned. The doctrinal views of Christ were 
very defective. There was a feeling of dependance 
on him, without any distinct knowledge of its ne- 
cessity. Said I, " do you not, when you enjoy pray- 
er and communion with God, feel such a love for, 
and reliance on Christ, as you know you ought not 
to feel on any save the Infinite God ?" There was 
an agitated pause. " Yes," she said, " and it has 
often troubled me, to reconcile my theory with my 
heart." The heart, taught of God, was right ; the 
theory, received from the teachers of error, was 
wrong. With others, hearing only error, and not 
taught of the Spirit, the ideas of the gospel are all 
novelties. With the Bible in their hands, and, 
sometimes read, they seem utterly unacquainted 
with its principles. It struck me with astonishment, 
once, in preaching in such a community, to see 
how the most familiar truths had all the force of 
novelties. It requires years of labor to make an 
adult mind, so trained to be ignorant, acquainted 
with the truths a little child easily learns and often 



HOME. 



59 



loves. The worthy deacon who " believed as the 
minister did ," but was not sure what the minister 
believed, is no unapt representative of this class of 
men. Though I am concerned chiefly with the 
moral and spiritual results of the declension, there 
are other features that have forcibly struck me. 
True religion is eminently favorable both to indus- 
try and enlarged enterprise. Its great truths give 
vigor to the mind, and fit it for success in worldly 
pursuits. For twenty years our young men, if they 
had any higher enterprise or ambition, left Home 
for other, often distant places. Few of this class 
remained ; not enough to supply the places of the 
fathers. I can count up almost twenty old family 
mansions, inhabited for two hundred years, that 
have decayed from this cause. For an equal pe- 
riod a visible decline in agriculture was noticed. 
Good farms lying uncultivated were not rare. 

On a revival of the early faith, both the agricul- 
tural prosperity of the town returned, and the ac- 
tive youth began to settle in Home ; till, at last, in 
one section of it, a village, for the first time in its 
history sprang up ; a village evidently gathered as 
the fruit of a purer religion. The connection be- 
tween a pure faith and worldly prosperity is not 
unknown to wicked men. I know another town, 
where some men who were bitterly hostile to the 



60 



HOME. 



truths of the Bible were consulting about measures 
to increase the value of their properly. Their vil- 
las seemed about to decay. Valuable inhabitants 
were retained in their employment with difhculty. 
"We must have a church, said one." It was 
agreed to by all. "What shall it be?" was the 
next inquiry. On mature delibe ration they decid- 
ed to have a thoroughly evangelical church, as best 
adapted to secure an industrious, pure, refined com- 
munitv, increase its members, and so, ensure the 
enhanced value of their property. They have not 
been disappointed in the result. And some of them 
who, in enmity to the Saviour, thus acknowledged 
his power to benefit mankind, have since learned 
the value of his grace in their own hearts. 

Return we to the darker shades of the picture. 
A fact occurring at a later date illustrates the state 
of spiritual death such causes produce. There is 
no more evil in dancing than in jumping the rope, 
in itself. The abuses of it have armed pure church- 
es so generally against it. But it is a characteristic 
of a dead faith, that no difference of life or spirit is 
expected when persons unite with the church. A 
young and tenderly conscientious girl made a pro- 
fession of her faith. The thanksgiving ball, with its 
midnight revelry, occurred soon after, just before 
the communion day. She was invited to attend. 



HOME. 



61 



" Shall I go ?" she asked one of the oldest members 
of the church. " Certainly ; it would be foolish to 
decline. Religion interferes with none of our 
pleasures." In one sense it is so. It requires us to 
lay aside nothing, which, on the whole, is a source 
of enjoyment, at least without supplying far higher 
and purer sources of happiness in its stead. I never 
heard, in the old churches of Home, any difference 
between the characters of men ascribed to their 
profession of the faith of the gospel, as it was then 
preached. And there was no reason to do so! 
Our Lord told the disciples, that the world would 
hate them. " If ye were of the world, the world 
would love his own. But because ye are not of the 
world, therefore the world hateth you." The amia- 
ble qualities of the Christian are fitted to win the 
love of worldly persons. But when the difference 
of principle and spirit becomes so small that the 
Christian or professed disciple's life ceases to re- 
prove sin, there is no ground for alienation. The 
most determined lover of sin need not hate such dis- 
ciples. But the holy are like the refiner's fire. 
Their very presence is a restraint on sinful thoughts, 
feelings and conduct, such as wicked men cannot 
well endure. As all barriers to membership were 
laid aside, any one who wished could become a 
church member, whose conscience did not, after 
6 



62 HOME. 

all, Whisper the need of some fitness he did not 
possess to approach the table of the Lord. Even 
when the pastor invited some to unite, conscience 
led them to refuse. And though the church 
danced at the midnight ball, not a few disliked to 
see the minister there, even as a looker on. "It 
did not seem right." The office reproved then- 
folly, long after the teachings or holy living of the 
man who filled it ceased to do so. " Stop sinning ; 
the minister is coming," should be the result of 
his approach. And when he lives the life of faith 
on the son of God, his very shadow, like that of 
Peter, shall check the spiritual disease of the fallen 
soul. His voice, though melting with tender love, 
shall reprove with more power than the earth- 
quake's terror, or the whirlwind's rage. 



HOME. 



63 



CHAPTER IV. 

The shades grow darker — Pulpit exchanges with error- 
ists — No social prayer — The closet forgotten — Neglect 
of worship — The Sahbath desecrated — Covetousness, 
which is idolatry : examples. 

Whether the elders of the present race of our 
pastors were wise in refusing to exchange pulpit 
services with the teachers of error, many doubted. 
It was needful to show men that such teachers 
were not recognized as ministers of Christ. And 
outward conduct impresses most men far more than 
mere words. But it is certain that this non-inter- 
course sealed the spiritual death of many churches 
in which a " little strength" remained. Their pas- 
tors deemed themselves insulted ; the people pitied, 
sympathized with them ; and then, shut up to their 
lifeless teachings, they refused to hear the words of 
life at all. Many towns became, at once, mission- 
ary ground, in which it was harder to find a place 
to utter saving truth than in the towns of Hindostan. 
The bitterness of religious strife entered social life, 
and friends could no longer speak to friends of 
Christ and God without rousing every baleful pas- 



64 



HOME. 



sion. The darkest days of Home were subsequent 
to this separation, though causes of a revival of a 
purer faith had arisen. The last results of religious 
error and an unfaithful ministry are best seen as 
they contrast with the rising power of a pure faith. 
Nay, they are not fully developed till that contrast 
is felt. 

Social religion disappeared from Home. For 
eighty years tradition has no record of a prayer- 
meeting in the town. And when the deistical 
pastor, with great reluctance consented to the es- 
tablishment of a Sabbath school, but two members 
were found in the church willing to pray in public. 
The popular feeling respecting prayer was shown 
in a remark of a plain man. A sick man, in a 
dying state, wished to hear prayer. The pastor 
was absent. None could be found to pray for him. 
The physician, long a member of the church, de- 
dined. Alas, he did not pray in secret! "Why," 
said the man, " I should think the doctor might 
have prayed. He has learning enough." It did not 
enter into the man's head that a humble heart was 
the element of acceptable prayer, or that a spiritual 
experience would fit a man, however poorly gifted, 
to pray with the dying far better than the possession 
of all knowledge. 

The neglect of secret prayer was nearly as uni- 



HOME, 



65 



versal as the omission of it in the family. Not that, 
in hours of sickness or danger the mind never 
turned to God, or ever used the words of petition 
to Him. I have smiled at the sensitiveness of 
many when I have asked them, "do you pray in 
secret ?" Those who seldom or never did, always 
evaded it ; often with some marks of displeasure. 
But it was plain enough they had no habits of 
secret prayer, no stated seasons for it, no delight in 
it. Among those who do pray, and love to do so ? 
it is always easy to learn the facts respecting their 
habits of secret prayer. They have no motive for 
hiding it. But the prayerless would not be thought 
utterly to forget God ! I could never learn, by dili- 
gent inquiry, that ten members of the churches of 
Home habitually prayed in secret. Their life in 
this respect was in keeping with their whole con- 
duct. Private prayer, social prayer, public prayer, 
are all linked together in the heart that loves to 
pray. In a whole church one is not forgotten till 
the others are laid aside. 

The neglect of public worship increased, as the 
power of the gospel ceased to be felt in the lives of 
its professed votaries. At a period more recent, 
less than one-third of the adult inhabitants of Home 
were habitually found in all the places of public 
worship. The services at weddings and funerals 
6* 



5(5 HOME. 

were the only occasions on which anything like 
religion was seen in this dark group. But many, 
in sight of the church and the pastor's house, were 
equally negligent. Yet none reproved, none in- 
vited, none warned them. " No man cared for their 
souls." I always set down the neglect of public 
worship to the want of faithfulness in the pastor. 
Faithful preaching, and faithful pastoral visits, with 
much prayer, will leave few or none to neglect the 
public means of grace. How unlike the early 
habits of the people of Home, when every occa- 
sional absence was matter of inquiry, if not of re- 
proof ! 

Sabbath desecration followed, of course. There 
were few who made it a day of toil. It was rather 
a day of jollity, of social visits, of idle talk, of rides, 
of wandering in the fields to pick berries ; a day of 
pleasure, instead of a season for worship, for read- 
ing, for prayer, or beneficial converse. Labor was 
not avoided because God forbade it, but because it 
was irksome. The holy day, became a holiday 
merely. The physical rest of the day was enjoyed, 
and that is a great blessing to man and beast ; but 
its spiritual objects were worse than lost. The pro- 
found religious ignorance of these neighborhoods, 
by dwellers in a Christian town, can hardly be con- 
ceived. The name of Christ was not unknown ; 



HOME. 



67 



but his character and offices were alike forgotten. 
Sinful man does not " like to retain God in his 
knowledge." And without a faithful ministry and 
a living church, a Christian town, in a few years, 
would relapse into virtual heathenism. There are 
two errors, equally fatal, in the end. One is ultra 
spiritualism, which is so holy as to need no Sabbath, 
no days of worship, no union of hearts in prayer and 
praises. The other extreme makes religion a thing 
for the Sabbath, the sick bed and old age. We 
need a Sabbath to cultivate our spiritual nature. 
But truly spiritual affections go with us everywhere. 
The merchant of Albany, N. Y., who asked " What 
has religion to do with selling lumber?" had as 
little correct knowledge of the nature of true piety, 
as the man who needs no hours sacred to devotion, 
no Bible to guide his already perfect mind in the 
way of truth. In Home, in my young days, we had 
the lumber merchant's religion, so far as there was 
any. It had no power to control men's passions, no 
influence over their daily business. 

" The love of money is the root of all evil," or of 
every kind and form of sin, according to the cir- 
cumstances in which the covetous, grasping spirit 
is placed. Sometimes he plunders the poor with- 
out regard to law. At others, he uses every unfair 
advantage within the letter of the Statutes. The 



68 



HOME. 



poor man may be covetous, but in the rich only does 
the sin become widely injurious to others. " Cov- 
etousness is idolatry." No surer mark of a fallen 
church is found than covetousness and the oppres- 
sion of the poor on the part of the rich. Some of 
the richest men in Home belonged to the churches, 
in my boyhood. One of them, the least guilty, in- 
creased his gains by loans at usurious interest, on 
mortgages, which he seldom allowed to be redeem- 
ed. His immense wealth has fallen into the hands 
of the pious, who will use it for God and the good 
of man. Another died the owner of several farms 
obtained by loans on mortgage to those rendered 
needy by intemperance and other vices. For half 
their value he stripped them of their possessions, 
and then held them as tenants. What difference 
made it in his relations to the church ? 

Still another obtained almost equal wealth by 
means more openly criminal. By the same system 
of loans he obtained control over the poor. He 
encouraged their intemperance by paying them for 
labor in rum. He despoiled them of their earnings 
by settling their accounts while they were half 
drunken. They must submit to his extortion, or be 
turned out of dwellings no longer their own. All 
these proud, ungodly men, were members of the 
fallen churches of Home. If they were the worst, 



HOME. 



they were the richest. Their sin did not destroy 
their honor. The common sense of mankind 
might decide that such men were not fitted for a 
holy heaven. But none questioned their right to 
a place in the churches called by the holy name of 
Christ. Their power for evil was greater ; their 
breasts more hardened than those of many others. 
The naturally generous despised their acts of mean- 
ness, now and then brought to public notice. But 
their worldly spirit too surely reigned in the church- 
es to incur any censure. Most men did not see, in 
their spirit, anything so very unlike their own, or 
so different from that of other church members, as 
to require rebuke. They died, and the "people 
made a great mourning for them." Funeral ser- 
mons spake of their social virtues, their regard for 
religion, their titles to the esteem of their fellow 
men. Who has not some virtues ? Some qualities 
that win respect and love ? When the young ruler 
"went away sorrowful because he had great pos- 
sessions," he showed the power of a worldly, cove- 
tous spirit over his soul. He could not give up all 
he had for Christ's sake. He would have been a 
worthy member of our churches in Home, never- 
theless. Was he not so excellent that Jesus loved 
him? He had many virtues, one sin. With very 
many the balance is very far the other way. They 



TO 



HOME. 



have many sins, few redeeming traits. The one 
sin shut him out from the favor of God just as sure- 
ly as if his head were gray with a life of varied 
crime. No sin now debases the true living church- 
es of our Lord so much as covetousness. To give 
that which is entirely convenient without the sacri- 
fice of one hour of ease, one luxury, one social com- 
fort, one mode of increasing one's gains, is all that 
many deem requisite to illustrate their faith. It 
does illustrate their faith. It is small indeed 1 The 
few who give more freely of money, withhold time 
and personal labor for man's welfare. That is 
more valuable than money. The fewer still who 
appropriate a tenth of their income to benevolence 
and charity have reached a sublime height of self- 
denial to which the many dare not aspire ! True, 
if all the churches did so much, there would be no 
lack of means to renew on earth the glory of para- 
dise in one generation. But the spirit of love in 
the heart is even more wanting than the gifts of 
gold. Both are needed to rill the world with the 
knowledge of Christ. In vain do we profess to 
consecrate our all to Christ, while we do so little 
for him, and by our life prove that the spirit of self- 
denial does not rule in our hearts. As well might 
Ananias and Sapphira claim the favor of God, as 
the members of a worldly church who profess so 



HOME. 



n 



much, and withhold so much more than is meet, 
from the service of God. He who lives to himself, 
is not a disciple. He who heaps up gold for him- 
self, is not the imitator of Christ. He who makes 
money for Christ, is a rare disciple, and may be set 
down, with a degree of certainty, as one " whose 
life is hid with Christ, in God." 



72 



HOME. 



CHAPTER V. 

Intemperance abounding— Death and crime— Lewdness— 
The sins of the parents visited on their children— a true 
story — One covenant remembered. 

In what part of our land have not the curses of 
alcohol been felt, in every form of suffering and woe 
by which man's lot is made bitter ? The only dif- 
ference in the degrees in which the woe prevailed 
arose from the previous moral and religious state of 
the community. Sixty years ago drunkenness was 
rare in our New England towns. In 1780 a vene- 
rable relative noticed, in a small country tavern, the 
amount of liquors sold. It was three barrels annu- 
ally. In 1830 he visited the same tavern, kept in the 
same old house, hardly a shingle of which was 
changed, and found the amount sold had increased 
to thirty barrels a year ! This is perhaps, an average 
measure of the increased frequency of intemperate 
drinking in fifty years. The impulse towards it 
was given by the habits acquired in the army ; and 
the rapid increase of agricultural products, espe- 
cially after the beginning of this century, without a 



HOME. 



73 



market for them. The cheapness of grain reduced 
the pjjce of distilled liquors to a point without ex- 
ample in the history of commerce. When the re- 
ligious and moral tone of society did not arm it for 
resistance, the tide of woe flowed over almost 
every dwelling. 

The early morality of Home was slowly under- 
mined, yet never so debased as to make it, com- 
pared with its neighbors, an immoral town. At 
least, I never thought so ; though I must admit that 
the proportion of public crimes has been greater 
than in any other farming town in the State, as the 
records of our prison too surely tell. Writing in 
the prison of a distant city, without books, I cannot 
compare the statistics of intemperance so well. 
But I know the amount was great. 

In a neighborhood of about two miles in circuit, 
enchaining the most refined portion of Home, the 
number of deaths, for fifteen years prior to 1836 was 
about seventy, not including children and youth 
under twenty years of age — knowing every one of 
them, and their personal history, two gentlemen de- 
clared that fifty of these deaths resulted from in- 
temperance. True, in some cases, the disease that 
closed life was called " fever " or " consumption ;" 
and was so, in fact ; a fever of the brain and a con- 
sumption of the vital energy of the man. But hard 
7 



74 HOME. 

drinking brought on the disease ; and the substitu- 
tion of a softer name, only served to hide from the 
public, not from the neighbors, the real truth. It 
might wound the spirit of the mourner to call it by 
a harsher name. So < colds,' ' fevers,' 'asthmas,' 
'consumptions' and 'apoplexy' were suffered to 
give name to the remorseless evil that filled the 
drunkard's grave with victims. Who can severely 
censure these cheats of affection, which sooth our 
sorrow, and impose on no one ! Those who were 
thus cut down, were of every class in society, every 
age and both sexes. Intemperate women always 
died of consumption and fevers ! In the darkest 
hours of the reign of alcohol, the idea of a drunken 
woman was abhorrent to public feeling, at Home. 
Such things existed, but little was said of them. 

In my own history occurred another proof of the 
vices of alcohol. My venerable guardian , one of the 
best guardians an orphan ever had, on the final ad- 
justment of our accounts, exhibited an item of near- 
ly a thousand dollars of uncollected debts. Filled 
with surprise, I asked the reason With deep emo- 
tion he replied, " It would have turned forty families 
out of doors to do it." They were debts for liquors, 
sold by the small quantity, in those days of dark- 
ness when kind, good men were blinded to the evils 
of this traffic. I knew the history of every family. 



HOME. 



75 



They were all poor, after the lapse of eighteen 
years. A score of bodies had been carried from 
their dilapidated houses to the drunkard's grave. 
Vice, misery, want clung to them. Lewdness, petty 
thefts, brawls, idleness, rags, disease, sudden death, 
there, as elsewhere, followed in the train of Rum. 
Who shall not bless God for the dawn of the bright 
day of total abstinence ? To scores of families in 
Home it has carried peace, and prepared the way 
for the reception of spiritual blessings. 

Vice and irreligion help each other. The vicious 
hate the purity of the gospel. The votaries of a 
lax faith have lost the highest restraints upon crime. 
The cross has more power to purify the social life 
than all the maxims of prudence or the motives that 
appeal to man's fears and hopes. 

So few, out of the circle of " moral reform " 
agencies are aware of the extent of the sin of lewd- 
ness, that it is difficult to speak of it without excit- 
ing prejudice and giving offence. That it was more 
prevalent in Home during the last generation than 
the present, or in any previous period of its history, 
is beyond all doubt. That men high in rank were 
not free from it is known. The extent to which it 
prevailed among the intemperate and the ignorant, 
who were, by the causes already narrated, thrown 
beyond the reach of such religious influences as 



76 



HOME. 



existed, can hardly be known. The evil began to 
pass away before the public mind was roused to its 
enormity or its extent. In one respect I always 
admired the feelings common in Home, on this 
topic. The fallen woman was an object of pity, not 
of contempt and scorn. Drive the lewd man from 
society if you will, but welcome his victim back to 
the paths of virtue and honor. 

In no other instance is that fearful law of retri- 
bution, the "visiting of the sins of the fathers upon 
their children," so frequently illustrated as in this. 
The wealthiest, and one of the most honored men 
in Home, in a past generation, was a libertine. 
One son inherited his wealth, his honors. He, too, 
followed in the same career of sin. In the third 
generation his name and race were extinct. Anoth- 
er instance of it I must not omit, for the striking 
lessons it imparts. 

D. was a well-educated girl, belonging to a 
wealthy family of Home. Endowed with superior 
talents, and remarkable personal beauty and grace, 
her intense vanity, and strong passions, without the 
restraints of the gospel, made her an almost willing 
victim of the seducer. He was a husband, a father. 
She fled to the city, to hide her sin from the eyes 
of all who knew her. There, in the process of 
time, she became the owner of one of those fester- 



HOME . 



77 



ing sores on social life, a public brothel. Id that 
den of shame and crime, she gave birth to two sons, 
Samuel and James. Their fathers were never 
known. Not wholly lost to the impulses of nature, 
she loved these more, worse than orphans, with an 
intense, idolatrous affection. Educated herself, she 
resolved to spare no expense, to hesitate at no crime 
even, to give them the best education the land af- 
forded. Doubtless, too, as I have known in other 
like cases, the guilty mother, her spirit gnawed by 
the pangs of remorse, longed to save her sons from 
lives of sin. Such inconsistences are often seen. 
She determined they should never know their mo- 
ther's dreadful trade, nor their own dark origin. 

The gains of sin were hoarded to be lavished on 
these sons. They were both sent to Harvard, and 
graduated with distinguished honor. Their minds 
were minds of great power and brilliancy. 

Samuel, in that part of his career, became a de- 
voted follower of Christ. His heart burning with 
holy love, he decided to become a minister of the 
gospel. Little did he know that the wages of 
whoredom supplied the means of his support at 
Andover ; little did others suspect it. There, too, 
he was conspicuous for his mental endowments, 
his scholarship, his stainless purity of life. 

James, even more highly gifted, entered the Har- 
7* 



?8 



HOBIE. 



vard Medical School. At this period he became 
acquainted with and corrupted by the vices of his 
mother's house. I knew him well. A more agree- 
able, well-informed companion one seldom meets. 
But he soon added intemperance to lewdness. An 
hospital student, availing himself of his chemical 
knowledge to neutralize their medicinal effects, he 
drank up even the tinctures prepared for the sick, 
for the sake of the alcohol in which they were dis- 
solved I Driven from his rank and profession by 
bis vices, he went to sea, as a common sailor. 
Four years later, rotten with loathsome diseases, he 
died as the fool dieth, in the same hospital where 
he had once studied the healing art. The sin of 
his parents slew him ! 

But the cup of retribution was not yet full. Sam- 
uel early became the pastor of one of our best 
churches, not far from Home. Clear and forcible 
in his preaching, sound in faith, warm in his affec- 
tions, he was useful and beloved by his excellent 
flock. His works praised him. He became a fre- 
quent contributor to the religious press. His ex- 
cellent pen won praises from which his humility and 
modesty shrank. 

He engaged, with applause, in the controversies 
of the time. Who has not read his letters on the 
existence and agency of fallen spirits ? Ascribed at 



HOME. 



79 



the hour, to many of our leading divines, they were 
the fruits of his leisure. 

As if Providence would not, even for the sake of 
this excellent man, wave the law of retribution— in 
a few months he died of a broken heart. Men said 
disease slew him. The disease was a wounded 
spirit. His pure and sensitive mind, lacerated, in 
every faculty by sins of which he was the inno- 
cent victim, could not endure the load of life. The 
body was broken in its struggles to be free. The 
sins of his parents slew him, also I 

The wretched, guilty mother still lives, lives in 
sin, without God, without hope. "Keep thyself 
pure " is the lesson, written in characters of judg- 
ment by the finger of Providence on every page of 
man's dark history. "Blessed are the pure ill 
heart, for they shall see God." 

Nor is that law of social retribution which thus 
connects the sins of the parent with the life of the 
child unjust, or intended as a mere punishment. It 
is designed to restrain men from crime by the be- 
fore-known judgments their sins may bring upon 
the objects of their warmest love. If their children 
imitate their parents' sins, their doom is plainly just. 
If, like one of these young men, they turn from 
sin, it is no punishment to them to remove them to 
heaven. While their sufferings, as pure and inno- 



80 



HOME. 



cent victims of a parent's crimes, still more im- 
pressively show the evil nature of sin. The law ? 
then, is wise and beneficent in its aims. It is only 
the counterpart of the other law of blessing, by 
which God " shows mercy to thousands of them 
that love him and keep his commandments," and to 
their children for many generations. 

If the sins and worldliness and departures from 
the faith, in a past generation, brought into being 
a race " who knew not God," no doubt the same 
God remembered his " covenant which he made 
with our fathers," and counted up all their fervent 
prayers and holy vows, when he began to revive 
again his work of grace in the hearts of their pos- 
terity, in our own day. The sacred spot where the 
first family altar was built in Home, and where 
seven generations offered the sacrifices of prayer 
and praise, cannot, will not, in coming time, be 
the home of unbelief and sin ! No, our fathers' 
God will not so forget his mercy ! Though, for a 
brief space, " he hid, as it were, his face from us," 
he will return again, and raise up a holy race, who 
shall keep his covenant ; for he will write it in their 
hearts. "He is God, the faithful God, which keep- 
eth covenant and mercy with them that love him 
and keep his commandments, to a thousand gener- 
ations." 



HOME. 



81 



In vain does error vaunt itself on its temporary 
possession, of the houses where our fathers wor- 
shipped, and the funds they devoted to the support 
of the worship of the Saviour they loved. He will 
yet restore them all. Error has its office. It may 
linger still, that the sons of God may be made 
manifest by their rejection of it. Already its pow- 
er over the popular mind is gone. The sentiments 
of its votaries are daily assimilated more and more 
to the faith of the gospel. And, what is far more 
delightful, to a true son of the Pilgrims, the " rock 
of the Spirit " in the hearts of many, in the fruits 
of holiness, is even more manifest than the evident 
progress in correct intellectual views of divine 
things. 

So shall the next generation-— that in which my 
children shall mingle — be united once more, both 
in the pure faith and holy living that prepared our 
fathers to be the founders of a great, and free na- 
tion. 



82 



HOME. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Party spirit— Preaching at men— Uses of sects and parties 
—Bible politics— Supremacy of the Law of God. 

Party spirit is not an evil, in its own nature. 
Men agree in their views. They deem them im- 
portant to their own welfare and that of their fellow- 
men. They desire to see them adopted by all, and 
controlling the actions of all. The laws of their 
nature lead them to associate together to spread 
their views and accomplish then* designs. They 
talk, they meet, they write, they print, they sing, they 
pray, to gain their ends. Common objects and pur- 
suits call forth, in some degree, their affections, 
their passions, their zeal. They become, by use, 
and feeling, bound to those with whom they labor 
for common ends— just in proportion to their ideas 
of the nature of these ends, and the toils and diffi- 
culties they surmount in gaining them, will be the 
strength of their union with their fellows, and their 
alienation from those who resist them. 

All this is proper, is right. It accords with the 
highest and best principles and laws of our mental 



HOME. 



83 



and social nature. The mind and heart make men 
partisans. The thoroughly selfish and idle and 
sluggish only are not so, in some things, at least. 

The evils of party spirit are found only in its ex- 
cesses and abuses. With our fallen nature, it is 
hard to avoid them, even when the objects we seek 
are high, honorable, holy. If the objects are right, 
and the means we employ are wise and right also, 
no degree of zeal or party spirit that is necessary to 
secure the ends, is ever excessive. A want of zeal, 
in such a case, is the error. 

These principles apply alike to the religious, the 
political, and the social concerns of man. Those 
who are too idle to think, or too imbecile to decide, 
and too sluggish for action, may deem otherwise. 
But mankind will have few benefits to thank them 
for. Such forms of party, or more properly, social 
action, are needed to call forth man's highest pow- 
ers. Men talk idly when they would have us be- 
lieve that they can banish the spirit of party from 
politics or religion. They must destroy man's pow- 
er of loving ; nay, root out every emotion from his 
soul ; make him indifferent to the approval of his 
fellows, careless of their censures, and reckless of 
all obligations to them, before the emulation, rivalry 
and competition, that form the grosser elements of 
party are rooted out ; grosser, yet not evil. The 



54 



HOME. 



evil still is in excess or abuse. When party is di- 
rected to unworthy ends ; when detraction, slander, 
forgery, bribery, falsehood, or any other sinful means 
are resorted to, to attain them, party spirit becomes 
a ruthless demon, riding on a stormy sea of human 
passions, dashing its waves of crime over all that is 
pure and valuable in man's life. 

There are evils connected with almost all sects 
in religion, because men, from their sinful passions, 
reject some truth, or exaggerate its value, or resort 
to sinful means to gain power over the conscience. 
But the benefits of the competition of sects far out- 
weigh those minor evils. He who would blot out 
from being one of the sects which yet, with admitted 
errors, embrace the great doctrines of the cross, is 
an enemy to the hope of man ! He would, if suc- 
cessful, delay for a century the triumph of that Re- 
deemer, who is equally the object of supreme love 
and reverence to the truly pious in all sects. Every 
evangelical sect enters some neglected part of the 
vineyard ; brings to light some valuable truths, or 
points out some new modes of action, besides in- 
culcating the great truths in which all unite, and 
which form the proper basis of a Christian life. 

Even sects of errorists are not without value, in 
showing Christians their sins, and compelling them 
to greater fidelity and more self-denial. Entire 



HOME. 



85 



union of opinion and action is desirable. But life, 
power, activity, diffusion, are far more so. In the 
revival of pure religion in the Pilgrim churches, 
sects not known to our fathers, holding views in 
some points — as we judge — erroneous, have acted 
a most important part. Neither here, nor in the 
world at large, can one common faith dispense with 
their labors without great loss. — I never preach 
against sects, but against every sin I can discover in 
any, especially in my own. This is the true road to 
peace, union, harmony, activity and perfect love. 

In political life sects are equally useful, in the 
present state of man. They are no longer masses 
of men led blindly by demagogues ; but minds ruled 
by thought, influenced by discussions, by reflection, 
by principles of action. There may be, there are, 
excesses of party zeal. Bad men are magnified 
into gods; men of feeble intellects into giants; cor 
rupt measures are made to seem all-important to 
the well-being of the land, in some men's eyes. But 
still, every contest, governed as it now is, by the 
power of the press, that is, by thought, read, spoken, 
reflected on, becomes an invaluable part of the edu- 
cation of the national mind. The more important 
the principles involved, the more excited and radi- 
cal the debates become, the more valuable is the 
8 



86 



HOME. 



strife to the interests of man, end as it may. For 
truth, justice, right, will finally triumph. 

That the occasional excesses of such contests do 
harm, become the sources of corruption to individu- 
al minds, and of religious declension in churches, is 
true. In one or two periods of our history, this has 
been illustrated. When, for instance, one of our 
pastors in Home so far forgot his calling and duties 
as to invite a gross political assault on a distin- 
guished statesman in his own church, on the Sab- 
bath, on account of political differences, it was a 
gross sin. The evil it inflicted time could not 
wholly remove. 

The heat of the partisan is not for the pulpit, or 
the Sabbath. These have higher aims and duties. 
Yet is not the pastor to neglect to preach political 
truths, at his peril. The Bible lays down the prin- 
ciples that should control governments, as well as 
individual men. It leaves no community at liberty 
to place an immoral man in office. The ruler must 
be just. He must be one who will "judge the 
cause of the widow, the orphan, the poor, the op- 
pressed." To vote for men of a different character 
is a crime. It is every pastor's duty to point it out, 
and warn the flock against the sin. The duty of 
rulers to regard the Sabbath, to frame just laws, to 
protect the weak, to succor the oppressed, to culti- 



HOME, 



87 



vate peace and harmony, and avoid the occasions 
of strife and war ; the great principles of equality 
and purity on which all laws should be based ; these 
are as much a part of the Scripture doctrines as the 
atonement of Christ. Even the claims of minuter 
measures, and particular men to support, so far as 
these involve moral or religious principle, it is some- 
times the faithful pastor's duty to discuss. He 
should do it with dignity, candor, holy zeal for God, 
and human welfare. He will offend some ; so does 
fidelity in any part of his duties. But he will ben- 
efit and please more. Some forty years ago, on the 
eve of an excited contest, a single sermon, by an 
eminent and spiritual pastor decided the State elec- 
tion. One who reads it now, can see in it only a vin- 
dication of great and pure principles, such as ought 
always to regulate the conduct of men in their civil 
duties. The separation of the citizen from the 
Christian ; the formation of one set of rulers to gov- 
ern the man in civil life, and another to control his 
conduct in the church, is an error destructive to 
pure morals and good government. If the citizen 
shall establish rules and laws, diverse from the Bi- 
ble, and claim for them an equal or higher au- 
thority over him, as a citizen, he usurps the author- 
ity of God, and defies his wrath. There is no surer 
mark of the fallen state of the slave-holding churches, 



£g HOME. 

than their attempts to cover up all the sins and 
crimes they connive at, by the plea that the civil 
law sanctions them. Enough for a Christian that 
the law of God condemns them. So in all other 
cases. 

The churches can never regain their just power 
over the human mind ; the pastoral office will nev- 
er be invested with its proper dignity, till the supre- 
macy of God's laws over all the constitutions, laws 
and civil conduct of men is faithfully enforced, on 
every proper occasion, and/eZ*by all who call them- 
selves Christians. The timid and sluggish shrink 
from a bold conflict with human passion. They 
will " preach the cross only"— would they did ! 
Would God that they exalted the " Prince of the 
kings [rulers, law-givers, magistrates, judges, officers] 
of the earth" in men's thoughts, till the power of 
His cross was confessed in every law, every election 
to office, every form of civil polity. The idea that 
the cross has relation to the affections only ; or, 
that it is the object of the gospel to renovate the 
heart, and therefore, that the pastor may omit the 
plain and constant enforcement of its claim to con- 
trol the life, is a most pernicious error— « I aim 
to make men Christians by imbuing their hearts 
with holv love." That is right; only "go on, to 
perfection." Let not your faith be without works, 



HOME. 89 

or fruit in the life. Let not men learn that they may 
consult their own will, in all the laws that govern 
the rights to life, liberty, property, purity and honor ; 
and still be good subjects of Christ, if they regard 
his will in their other relations and personal con- 
cerns. The great idea of the gospel is, that Christ 
must rule the whole man, in all his life, all his rela- 
tions, all his duties. It is not the Christian's aim to 
govern his affections, only, or his conduct in private, 
life alone, or his public action merely, by the laws 
of the Bible. Each and all, from his birth till he 
enters the Permanent Life before him, are to be 
governed by the word of God. To enforce a wick- 
ed law, as a magistrate, is much more wicked than 
to violate, in single cases, a just law. The evil is 
greater, longer, and more widely felt. To forget 
our social duties to our neighbors, is, in some re- 
spects, a greater evil, than to cherish sin in our own 
hearts, for the same reason. But in the well in- 
structed, living, loving disciple, the holy affections 
that rule his heart will secure the control of holy 
principles over every part of his outward life. The 
corrupt politician is not a good Christian. The 
maker and executor of wicked laws cannot truly 
and really obey God (from the heart.) They " tithe 
the mint, anise and cumin," yet allow their con- 
duct, when it concerns the social welfare of thousands 
8* 



90 



HOME, 



to be such as God abhors, and his word condemns. 
" The weightier matters" are not done. Not so can 
they please ot honor God. How is it men, who in 
other points of view, seem to be good men, justify 
themselves in such errors ? The truth is this, our 
consciences are at rest, and we hope for Divine favor, 
when we conform to the standard of duty in our own 
minds ; no matter how erroneous or even criminal 
that standard may be, in fact, when compared with 
the law of God. Hope and peace, and devout af- 
fections can exist with almost any amount of error 
and sin. And the moment the supremacy of any- 
thing but the teachings of the Holy Spirit and 
Word of God is admitted, that instant we lay the 
basis for false hopes, peace which comes only from 
our own hearts, and not from God ; and for a devo- 
tion, that, however sincere, pleases God no more 
than the equally sincere worship of the Brahmin at 
the shrine of Siva. Isaiah i. and lviii. 

No doubt, the excesses of party strife had some 
influence in destroying the remnants of piety in 
Home. But there, as elsewhere, the neglect to en- 
force the supremacy of God's law, and the con- 
sequent divorce of men's religion and politics, had 
a far more disastrous influence. An eminent states- 
man, and true Christian once said to me, that noth- 
ing had so much contributed to expose the minis- 



HOME, 



try to contempt, in our country, as their agency, in 
this divorce of spiritual religion from the political 
and social duties of life. Men want a religion that 
will regulate their daily business, their " selling 
lumber," their voting, their travelling, their social 
visits, their entire life. Such a religion honors its 
great Author ; and the vivid and tender and bold 
enforcement of its claims, will clothe his ministers 
with almost Divine power. 



92 



HOME. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Relics of faith— A mothers spirit in heaven— Old associa- 
tions—The illustration— Old hooks— Conscience recog- 
nizes the truth— Literature and religion— The Li- 
braries-Home, a mission field !-The faithful preacher 
—Social prayer revived— The "new commandment'' 
obeyed— Religion and education. 

The stately ship that 

" Walked the waters like a thing of life," 
is driven on the rocks, and the power of the waves 
breaks her strength, despoils her of her beauty, and 
scatters the fragments along the sands. Still, in 
every piece, though it is incapable of giving again 
a home and a shelter to the bold sailor, the eye of 
skill sees proofs of what it once was. Science 
could even tell her tonnage, her model, from pieces 
hardly worth saving for fire-wood. There were 
relics of the shipwreck of the faith in the churches 
of Home, long after they became " dead," so dead 
that all hope of recovery by a power from within 
had ceased. But they were few. Thirty years ago 
there were only about twenty in all the town who 



HOME. 



93 



even professed to be converted persons, or to have 
had any other religious experience than other world- 
ly persons. Neither of the pastor's were of the 
number. One of them not only openly admitted 
it, but ridiculed all pretences to regeneration, in 
any other sense than a reformation from vice. Still, 
and it often surprised me, the people habitually 
made a distinction between the converted and those 
who were not ! Those who did not believe that 
conversion, or any internal, spiritual renovation of 
man's affections was necessary to fit them for heav- 
en, still saw there was a difference between those 
who loved God and those who did not. Its nature 
few had any idea of; but none doubted that those 
who spoke of their sense of sin, their peace, their 
hopes, their joys, their Saviour, had found in re- 
ligion something that most men had not. The lives 
of such persons were watched with great eagerness. 
Every error, every passion, every natural foible was 
noted, in contrast with the feelings of the heart, in 
whirh the converted told them the basis of piety 
was laid. The few pious, at this time, were either 
aged persons, or in middle life, with perhaps two 
exceptions. One of these, a beautiful flower, in all 
the sweetness of its bloom, was cut down before 
the Christian character was matured, though not be- 
fore intimate friends had learned to love it, and 



HOME. 



hope much from its fruit. Blessed mother ! thou 
art among the holy ones, who stand in the pres- 
ence of the Lord! If thou dost ever stop praising, 
and cease to strike thy harp in the heavenly choir, 
is it not to pity human woe ; to succor thy tempted 
child ; to wipe away the penitent tear from the 
burning cheek, the cold sweat of remorse from the 
brow, and pour consolation into the broken heart ? 
Are not these the work of the ministering spirits ? 
Did not the eye of boyhood feast on the spiritual 
beauty of thy face, the beauty of death, when the 
eye filled with rapture saw " within the veil," and 
the spirit tasted heavenly manna, to give it vigor for 
its upward flight ? Once thou didst recall the mind 
from the heavenly vision. Calling the little, the 
only son to thy couch, the thin, wasted hand, whose 
soft touch is never forgotten, parted his light hair ; 
and with many a murmured prayer thou didst in- 
voke the orphan's God to be his father. "Mother, 
I give him to you, train him up for God," broke 
from thy dying lips. And then thou didst leave the 
body of death to put on immortality. Mother, is 
thy son forgotten, amid the blaze of the glory of 
the celestial city ? Does not the glorious One still 
wear our nature? Is he not still "touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities," and alive to human 
sympathies ? And when the circle of earth's wor- 



HOME. 



93 



shippers bow before him, does He not bid them 
cherish every pure emotion of our nature ? Is a 
mother's love banished from Heaven ? Art thou 
not saying to thy child, " Hasten, put on the robes 
of holy light the Lamb giveth thee, and come up hith- 
er !" And when the Lord revealed himself, in mer- 
cy to thy child, and said his sins were forgiven, wert 
thou not there ? Was it not thy form, thy face, thy 
smiles, that formed a part of the cloud of glory that 
surrounded Him, when his word of peace was 
spoken ? Aye, and thou wilt welcome him, with 
all a mother's holy heart, when, perhaps thy own 
gentle hand does death's office, to open before his 
eyes the glory on which thou didst look, when thy 
dying lips blessed him. Blessed mother, thy son 
will come ! He longs to meet thee ! 

The few really pious, surrounded and chilled by 
the atmosphere of death, just lived; their light 
shone not brightly enough to penetrate the thick 
gloom ; or at least to scatter it. 

Those who love error, know well how hard it is 
to root out a traditionary respect for the truths of 
pure religion. The very words of the language 
have the truth so associated with them, that no hu- 
man skill can ever change the impression they 
make on the mind. Those who sought to destroy 
the faith of the sons of the Pilgrims knew it well. 



Qg HOME. 

Hence in years gone by, their watchful endeavor to 
avoid all those terms in customary use, to desig- 
nate the several truths of our faith. While they 
spoke of the " atonement," it was in vain to 
try to destroy the sense of dependance on the 
blood of Christ for the pardon of our sins. While 
they told of the regeneration, men would not for- 
get that their fathers, and even a few who still lived, 
thought that man's nature was corrupted, and need* 
ed an entire moral change to prepare him for heav- 
en The omission of the old Doxologies of praise 
to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, alarmed the 
consciences of men who had long and complacent- 
ly listened to teachings that denied the doctrine of 
the Triune God. " Our fathers worshipped m this 
mountain." The feeling the words express, ap- 
plies equally to the places, names and forms of 
worship and faith. Men will embrace error, be- 
cause it is preached in the house where their fathers 
praised God; they would reject it in another place. 
So their associations with the truth linger, also, 
after its power over the mind and heart is lost, so 
far as their salvation from sin is concerned. 

One day I sat by the side of one of the most in- 
telligent and conscientious members of the church 
in Home; one who had much semblance, if not 
the reality of spiritual life. Incidentally, the pas- 



HOME. 



tor was spoken of as not believing in the atone- 
ment. It was referred to, merely as a matter per- 
fectly well known, She became silent, her eyes 
filled with tears. Her heart was grieved. For 
twenty years she had heard the great sacrifice for 
sin denied, derided, treated as a heathenish corrup- 
tion of the faith. Still, she could not believe it pos- 
sible that the pastor denied the atonement ! He cer- 
tainly spoke of it in his sermons. And, in her 
mind, the power of old associations connected the 
good old Bible doctrine with the word, in spite of 
years of false teaching. Her own hopes rested, in- 
deed, on the faith of the fathers. She has gone to 
prove the strength of that tried foundation ! When 
did it ever fail ? " The heavens being on fire, shall 
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fer- 
vent heat," but none who ever reposed on the aton- 
ing blood of Christ for the pardon of sin shall find 
their hopes vain. Such faith will purify their hearts, 
and teach them holy living, support them in holy 
dying, and open the gates of His revealed glory to 
the ascending spirit. 

Another thing contributed to keep alive tradition- 
ary respect for the gospel. It was the multitude of 
old choice books in Home ; the legacy of a reading, 
praying race. Every old family dwelling has its 
relics ; a volume of Baxter, Bunyan, Mather, Han- 
9 



HOME. 



cock, Clark, Owen, Jeremy Taylor, Henry, More, 
Carew, Gill, Latimer, Horseley, and a score more, 
known, read and loved by the earlier generations. 
Some are sadly worn, the old clasps gone, a cover 
lost, chapters torn out, volumes missing: but 
enough left, and taken often enough from the old 
closets, for curiosity's sake, to keep alive some re- 
gard for the faith of the fathers. Probably a 
thousand unmutilated volumes of choice and rare 
old books still exist in Home. Those who never 
read, will not hear of parting with them ! They 
are family relics, and bear a sacred character. In 
such an old torn volume I first feasted on that great 
poem for ail ages, the Pilgrim's Progress. Invested 
with all the charms and spirit of poetry, without its 
forms, more true to human nature than even Shak- 
speare, rich in all the varied forms of Christian ex- 
perience ; it is a romance to charm the young, a 
guide full of wisdom for the most gifted and ma- 
toed. Bunyan was a man for all ages of our race, 
for all time. What a crown is his ! 

Words are ideas to most men, " living powers," 
as Coleridge has it, not the mere vehicles of 
thought. The power of the old associations I 
speak of was occasionally felt, when by any chance 
a preacher of the old faith entered the pulpits of 
Home. Such instances were rare, especially after 



HOME, 



99 



exchanges with erroneous teachers ceased. But 
their sermons were never forgotten, and were often 
referred to. If the pastors, in hours of sorrow, or 
at other times, preached with more solemnity and 
point than usual, the remark ever was, " Why, he 
preached almost like Mr. So-and-so ;" showing, that 
the occasional exhibitions of gospel truth, and the 
force of old associations had established in the 
mind a higher standard of truth and of pastoral fidel- 
ity than that to which they were used. In a few 
instances, in later times, conversions to Christ may 
be traced to this source. The old cherished family 
bibles, in which often the names of ten genera- 
tions are written ; the old tomb-stones that even 
now are hardly legible, on which their names were 
again inscribed ; the old family mansions in which 
they prayed and gave thanks ; the old books they 
loved to read, all these must pass away, and mingle 
with the dust before these old and blessed associa- 
tions shall die out of the mind, and the Puritan's 
faith become a matter of mere history, even if none 
of the living race still loved it and knew its saving 
power. 

God has many ways of reviving the power of a 
pure faith in his churches. Sometimes he comes 
in majesty, " suddenly to his temple," and a com- 
munity is born in a day. But, in every case I ever 



100 



H O 31 E . 



knew, such displays of his grace occurred where a 
large number of minds had been before instructed 
in the truth. The power of sympathy is essential 
to an extended revival ; and that cannot exist much 
beyond the circle of those who, in their understand- 
ings, assent to the same general principles of faith. 
Grace acts according to, and not against these and 
all other laws of our nature. In a town where re- 
ligion had so decayed, as in Home, a longer pro- 
cess of regeneration was needed. The seed was to 
be sown by the way-side, in the fields, everywhere, 
6 here a little, there a little,' as time and changes 
fitted individual minds to receive it. When so 
much is to be done, and the soil to be tilled is so 
little prepared to bring fruit to perfection, many 
agencies are needed, before the golden harvest is 
ripe. And these agencies are not all strictly reli- 
gious in then character. The revival of literature 
preceded the religious awakening of the fifteenth 
century. Indeed the latter would hardly have been 
possible, without the first to prepare for it, unless 
at the expense of three more such centuries of 
blood as followed the first proclamation of the gos- 
pel. The same work indeed, was to be done, but 
by a new power, that of the press, which gives to 
one mind the influence of ten thousand tongues. 

In Home the first agencies in the revival of a 
pure faith were similar. 



HOME. 



101 



Two young men, men of intelligence and serious 
thought, but not pious, were the first to do anything 
that acted permanently on the popular mind. A 
social library, comprising the best works in history 
and general literature was started, by their agency. 
It was the source of renewed thought in many 
minds. Quickened intellects will often turn to re- 
ligious ideas, — some more naturally than others. 
Emotion follows thought, as well as excites it. And 
the value of the religious character that is formed, 
often depends chiefly on the state of the mind be- 
fore it is subjected to the control of holy love. 
That these young men, one of whom had a pious 
mother, and the other a native of another place, had 
ideas of religion much in advance of their townsmen 
is certain. They saw the darkness around them. 
They sought to remove it, by such means as an 
awakened, but not renewed heart may employ. 
Besides the general* impulse they and a few others 
gave to reading and thought, they formed an exten- 
sive moral and religious library. It embraced the 
most valuable religious literature then accessible, at 
cheap rates, with not a little of error and some fol- 
ly. But it placed the works of Baxter, Law, Watts, 
Doddridge, and the sermons of some eminent Ame- 
rican writers, together with much religious biogra- 
phy, in the hands of many who had no other means 
9# 



102 



HOME. 



of learning the true nature of the gospel. True, the 
" veil " still remained on then' hearts " in reading 
these volumes, as well as the Bible. There was 
none to teach them what these things meant. The 
pastors preached nothing, or else in opposition to 
the truths the books contained. Still, it was a 
dawning of light. It supplied the only religious 
reading known to the generation then on the stage, 
save their occasional glances at the pages of some 
old Puritan volume. The few pious took great de- 
light in them. The naturally thoughtful read them, 
with care, and the fallow ground of their hearts 
was broken up, and in some measure prepared to 
hear the truth preached. In a few, in humble life, 
these books perhaps, became the means of con- 
version. 

Some such have died, of whom the Christian had 
hope, though their light was feeble. Piety ob- 
scured by error, repressed by contempt, with none 
to cheer the heart, and with imperfect views of its 
obligations, has very little active power, in the igno- 
rant and obscure. And grace does not so violate 
nature, and set at nought the social constitution of 
man, as to make it otherwise, save in rare cases. 

I have said that many towns became in fact, mis- 
sionary fields. Home was so, in every important 
respect, if a large population, living in ignorance or 



HOME. 



103 



neglect of Christ constitutes one. So one of the 
few godly pastors near Home regarded it. He was 
a young, ardent man, pious in spirit, not without 
genius, trained in those clear views of doctrinal 
truth that distinguish the writings of his eminent 
instructor, the late venerable pastor of Franklin. 
This young man became pastor of a church in a 
town adjoining which a little light lingered. Hence- 
forth his life was one of toil. His style of preach- 
ing was bold, fearless, manly, full of reasoning, 
sometimes lofty in thought, and sublime in denun- 
ciations of woe to the guilty. It lacked somewhat 
the tender spirit of Christ. But for some classes of 
minds it was just what was needed to break the 
slumbers of ages. He sought out the scattered few 
who still loved the old ways in which the fathers 
trod. His labors were blessed to the people of 
Home. He brought them together, for the first 
time in eighty years of the annals of Home, for so- 
cial prayer and praise. Henceforth the social pray- 
er meeting was never lost. Two or three met to- 
gether, and the Lord was there. He placed in their 
hands those volumes of great and clear thought, 
Emmons 1 Sermons. He preached the gospel from 
house to house, wherever he could gain access. 
Few of the rich welcomed him ; many cursed him. 
His preaching, in keeping with his model, was full 



104 



HOME. 



of instruction. A Christian formed under its in- 
fluence must needs be a thinking one. It was very 
discriminating in respect to the nature and proofs 
of holiness in the heart and life. It tried the spirit 
most thoroughly. None could easily be familiar 
with such books and such sermons, and mistake 
his own true character. The growth of piety in 
the hearts of those who were spiritual before, was 
marked. They became active. They began to 
reprove sin, to rebuke error, to warn them to re- 
pentance. The Lord added a few to their number, 
including one or two of the most respected and in- 
telligent women in Home. Great decision of char- 
acter marked these struggling disciples. If some, 
at times, showed a want of meekness, it was true 
that their trials were severe. But in general, their 
meekness was great. And every one had occasion 
to say, " behold how T these love one another." 
They lived, in most instances, at a distance from 
each other. There was very little to bring them 
together, save the love of Christ. And when they 
met, it was like the meeting of tenderly attached 
friends. Their faces shone. For hours I have seen 
two or three stand, exposed to the sun's hot rays, 
or the winter's cold, talking of their hopes, joys, 
sorrows ; of their Christ, the fountain of their life. 
Neighbors would pass by, and speak to them ; hours 



HOME. 



105 



would elapse, but wholly absorbed in their great 
theme, they knew it not. It was the exhibition of 
new and strange feelings. For the first time in al- 
most a century, the power of brotherly love was set 
before the minds of the people of Home. They 
were mocked, insulted, derided, sneered at, laugh- 
ed at, but still, more and more respected, every day. 
People wondered what they found in religion to 
talk so much about ! Some were accused of neg- 
lecting their social duties, to wander away to dis- 
tant meetings, or to talk and pray ; but the accuser 
knew better. Some few were persons of great in- 
telligence and high standing. It was a great mys- 
tery to many, how such persons could take the de- 
light they did in visiting some of the most obscure 
and illiterate persons in town. " It was very 
strange," it was said, " that religion need lead peo- 
ple into low company !" As if such a term could 
apply to those in whom the Saviour had taken up 
his abode ! True, they were ignorant of literature. 
Their language was not always elegant or correct. 
Their logic was worse ; but they loved Christ, and 
that changed their whole nature. That refined 
their manners. The Bible, always in their hands, 
and loved, gave dignity to their language and topics 
for conversation. The Lord, who is " the wisdom 
of God," taught them truths more important than 



106 



H O M E . 



any known to those who despised them. The con- 
stant familiarity with great truths educated their 
minds. How often have I noticed a feeble intellect 
made vigorous by this new, living power! 

Strange that sin should so blind men that they 
should ever dream that hearty love for the Holy 
Author of man's intellect, could do otherwise than 
ennoble the mind ! Look at the world's history. 
Just where the faith of Christ has the most power, 
there the masses of mind are best educated. No 
material progress or improvements in education 
come from those who are not humble Christians. 
The greatest discovery in modern times was made 
on Plymouth Rock, by Carver, Alden and Bradford. 
It is the Free School, open to every child, rich 
and poor, without pay, and sustained by the pro- 
perty of the community. That gave power to the 
press. That is now renovating the world. That 
is destroying superstition. That converts the des- 
potisms of the continent iuto wise, patriotic govern- 
ments. A people educated in Free Schools can- 
not be oppressed. Give the American slaves a 
year's schooling, and no earthly power could rivet 
their fetters another hour. The masses of mankind 
will owe their social redemption to the little band 
of Plymouth Rock. 

As with masses of men, so with smaller bodies 



HOME. 



107 



and individual minds. A religious community read 
more, think more, converse more on literary topics, 
write more for the press than one where the power 
of the gospel is lost, either by the prevalence of 
errors in theory, or corrupt morals. For example, 
in a little town in Massachusetts, inhabited wholly 
by shoe-makers, and embracing less than 2000 in- 
habitants, there are more Literary Periodicals taken, 
than in the Capital of Virginia. This is an indica- 
tion of an almost universal truth— Piety and know- 
ledge, in the masses, are ever united. Corrupt re- 
ligion, and you dethrone the power that gives en- 
ergy to the intellect. That power is holy love, the 
great source of activity in all the Universe of God. 

In the revival of a purer faith in Home, there has 
been a marked increase of attention to education, 
more thought, more reading of periodicals and 
books, more production of literature. In a word, 
all the evidences of a better educated town. The 
gospel makes the simple wise, as well as saves the 
guilty from death. 



108 - 



HOME. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BELLE OE HOME. 
I. Lifers dawn. 
Was she beautiful ? Even now her faded face 
has lines of beauty. She was rather above the 
medium stature. Her form, constrained by no cor- 
sage, was perfect in outline. Dressed in a taste 
partly her own, and partly conformed to the mode, 
her beauty was rather shaded, not injured by it. 
Her skin was pure as the Parian marble. Every 
motion was graceful, easy. Her dancing was like 
that of the fairies. Her features were well formed ; 
but the broad forehead, and clear hazel eye, full of 
intelligence, gave an expression of dignity rather 
than gentleness to her face. Yet the gentlest of 
human beings was she. She would not tread on 
the worm or the ant. Had they not life, and a 
right to their share of enjoyment? Of ail our 
youth, none excelled her in the vigor of her strong 
intellect, and sound judgment ; none were better 
versed in literature. She was rather proud ; proud 
of an old, honored name ; proud of station, wealth, 



HOME, 



109 



intellect, education, beauty, and the applause all 
these gave her. Is it strange? Yet who more 
truly modest ? Who less assuming ? Who more 
gentle to inferiors ! Perhaps the very consciousness 
of her own elevated position saved her from harsh- 
ness to them ; it does so affect proud persons. But 
who had a warmer heart ? Nay, who united such 
self-control with a more intensely passionate nature ? 
She was not vain ; pride prevented that. Enemies 
she could not have ; she was not vied, for she 
treated none unkindly. She loved gaiety ; and the 
circles to which she had access were gay. They 
were the wealthy, educated, but not pious circles of 
Home and of our cities. She had read her Bible ; 
nor were religious authors forgotten. But there 
was no example of piety, in her father's house ; no 
early education of the mind and affections under 
the influence of the gospel. She was "without 
God," though not without high hopes of present 
and future joys. She was kind to the poor, when 
it came in her way ; but what could she know of 
poverty ? What should call the courted and petted 
daughter of luxury to the abodes of want and sin? 

She loved, and was loved in return. He was 
one whom she had known from childhood. In in- 
tellectual strength he was her fit companion. In 
learning, his University sent forth few equals, of 
10 



110 



HOME. 



his years. His manly person and manly character 
were all that woman could ask in the object of her 
passionate love. And her love was passionate; 
all the strength of her nature was poured into this 
tide of love. Was he not worthy to be her heart's 
idol ! His very calling seemed to sanctify such an 
idolatrous love. He was about to become the pas- 
tor of a refined, intelligent and rich church, in a 
county seat. That he was a truly converted man, 
nobody in their circle supposed. Neither they, nor 
the church, nor he deemed it important. He was 
amiable, gifted, serious ; he had made it his profes- 
sion. True, there had been whispers of excesses 
over the cup, in college. But that, of course, a 
clergyman would avoid. Besides, in those days 
every gentleman, as a part of the dignity of his char- 
acter, must have a dozen kinds of liquors on his 
sideboard. There was no danger. Still, for some 
family reason their union was not to take place for 
two or three years. What matter ? Should they 
not meet, write, and ever love? Besides, she was 
not quite conscious of fitness for the duties of a par- 
son's wife ; and she was young ; only nineteen. If 
life continued, what promise of the future could 
be fairer ? Earth's blessings and joys were sure, 
and heaven's were not so very hard to obtain. 
What evil had she ever done ? So dawned life on 
Ellen C 



HOME. 



Ill 



II. The day. 

« Did you ever hear of such a thing ? why Ellen 
C. is a going to have a Sunday school, to teach all 
the children in the town to be Christians ! She 
must be crazy." " Where did she get such foolish 
whims ? Such things were never heard of in Home, 
before. True, in old times, I have heard my 
father say, they used to teach children the cate- 
chism. But that has long been laid aside, and with 
good reason. Nobody now believes that children 
need any religion to fit them for heaven." 

" Very true, deacon ; it is of no use to try to 
make Christians of children. They are all inno- 
cent, till they grow up. And it is time enough then 
to attend to religion." 

" I agree with you, 'Squire. Ellen must be crazy. 
Where did she get the idea ?" 

" My wife was there yesterday, and says she has 
just returned from Portland. She says Ellen in- 
sulted her." 

" Insulted your wife ! A lady like Ellen !" 

" It amounted to that, deacon. My wife was there, 
on a social visit. Ellen would scarcely talk of any- 
thing but religion, all the afternoon. It was nothing 
but " faith," and " Christ," and the " new birth." At 
last she got my wife into her chamber and began 



112 



HOME. 



to warn her to repent, and even wept. Finally she 
offered to pray with her, and prayed for her just as 
if she was a heathen. If that is not an insult, what 
is? My wife, you know, was a member of our 
church before Ellen was born, and is as good a 
Christian as auy woman in Home. And then, to 
crown all, she began to beg her to pray with our 
children, every day, that they might become Chris- 
tians. That, I suppose, is what this Sunday school 
means." 

" It is wonderful ! I agree with you, she must be 
crazy. I thought such things had ceased among 
educated and enlightened men." 

The magistrate was an old member of our church. 
And truly, the town was in an uproar, for such a 
quiet one. There were then not more than ten or 
twelve Sabbath schools in our land. In Home, 
religious education for the young had long been 
voted needless, by the most respectable people in 
town. Out of the little circle of the pious it was 
wholly uncared for. Parents, indeed, taught their 
children to avoid gross sins, like lying, oaths, and 
theft, and to be kind and obedient. But nobody 
thought of making them religions. What need 
of it? 

Ellen was changed. The lover of worldly plea- 
sure she had ceased to be. The Bible was her 



HOME. 



113 



companion. Her closet was heaven revealed on 
earth. She loved social life, as much as ever ; but 
her whole aim seemed to he to lead her friends to 
Christ, a Saviour of whose character and offices 
both they and she had been profoundly ignorant, a 
year before. It was no reformation in morals, but 
a change in the heart, that formed the theme of her 
discourse. The soul, laden with forgotten sin, and 
hastening to the bar of God, was the object of her 
prayers, her solicitude, her love. Literature and 
the elegancies of life were not forgotten; but the 
welfare of the soul was first in her daily thoughts. 
The 'Squire did not understand such feelings ; the 
deacon did not; the parson did not. This love for 
the souls of men was a novelty in their circle. 
True, the few pious people in town talked so. 
But they were all persons advanced in life. " To 
see one," as the minister's wife said, " so young, so 
intelligent and lovely, at the age when she ought to 
enjoy life, adopting such views, was a pity 1" 

What had changed gay Ellen, to praying Ellen ? 
She had passed the summer in a distant state, on 
a visit. There she listened to the preaching of 
Payson. Won by his eloquence to attend to the 
truths he uttered, the Holy Spirit taught her that 
she was, what she had hardly ever thought of be- 
fore, a sinner ready to perish, without a Saviour. 
10* 



114 



HOME. 



That Saviour was soon manifested iu his glory, 
and received as the object of love and worship. 
Her strong mind soon perceived the harmony of 
the whole circle of divine truths, and she cordially 
embraced them. In his church she first saw, and 
at once appreciated the immensevalue of a Sabbath 
school, then a novelty in the land. She learned 
the value of social prayer. As she thought of 
Home, her view of the objects and duties of life at 
once changed. She knew there were a few Chris- 
tians, who felt as she now did. But only one of 
them moved in her own circle, and she was in the 
decline of life. Ellen had never talked with her. 
But it seemed so easy to convince enlightened 
people, like those of Home, of the value of her new 
hopes and plans, that she could not expect to be 
opposed. And there was one drop of sweetness in 
her cup. Would she not now be a fitter com- 
panion, a better pastor's wife for her betrothed ? 
Then came the alarming question, whether he, the 
chosen, worshipped one, shared in such feelings ? 
He had never spoken of them. But love had been 
their theme ; and that was the reason. At any rate, 
she would know very soon. She could not write to 
him, on such a subject No, the first hours of their 
joyful meeting should be devoted to the topic. 
Surely he must love the Saviour, whose love it was 
his business to preach. 



HOME. 



115 



Autumn drew near. Ellen returned to Home, 
and began at once, in the fulness of her soul, to tell 
of her Saviour. She could not now be blind to the 
spiritual state of her friends. All loved her, and 
few, therefore, to her face, treated her efforts with 
any want of respect. The parson, and a few others, 
affected to regard it as a mere change in the intel- 
lectual views of religion, induced by an eloquent 
and gifted preacher. Some would try to reason 
her out of these " strange ways," as they called them. 
Some opposed her with earnestness, with bitter 
feelings. A few scoffed. But her arguments and 
her meekness soon quelled that. A small number 
listened with deep interest, and received instruction 
and profit. The old disciples rejoiced and thanked 
God that one so beloved and fitted for wide useful- 
ness was added to their number. In a few months 
she announced her plan of a Sabbath school for 
children. If her conversation had excited emotion, 
and, with the worldly, suspicions of her sanity, this 
confirmed them. The great idea of training the 
young for Christ, was practically lost in Home. 
Such a thing as a pious child was unknown. Chil- 
dren and young people, every body said, went to 
heaven as a matter of course. What need of any 
change in them ? What need of a religious school 
for them ? Could they not learn to read the Bible 



116 



HOME. 



at home ? Religion was for the mature mind, not 
for infancy !— " Out of the mouths of babes and 
sucklings, Thou hast perfected praise/' Our Sa- 
viour's words had no example in Home to illustrate 
its meaning, for ages. Its meaning was unknown, 
as far as it referred to this world. 

We little ones wondered, as well as our elders, 
what this same Sabbath school might mean. But 
we all knew Miss Ellen ; and an eager crowd gath- 
ered in the school-house on a bright sunny Sabbath, 
after the close of the public services of the sanctua- 
ry. There were not five of us all who had ever 
heard any one pray, but the ministers in the pulpit. 
Only two in the vicinage maintained family worship. 
Not a few parents, too, had come with their chil- 
dren to see the strange thing. And when Miss El- 
len, with her gentle voice trembling with emotion, 
began to speak to us of prayer, a gaze of eager cu- 
riosity was fixed on her. She knelt before us, none 
following her example, and began, in melting ac- 
cents, to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit. It 
was strange, crazy, indeed, — so ran popular feeling 
— for a woman to pray so publicly. Who ever 
heard of such a thing ? But there were some who 
rejoiced at it. 

It was truly a Primitive Sunday School ! No 
Sabbath School Libraries were then in being. No 



HOME* 



117 



Societies to create them existed. Juvenile litera- 
ture was very limited. There was none of it in all 
Home of more value than " Goody Two Shoes," and 
similar stories. No " Question Books" nor Bible 
Dictionaries existed for Sunday schools. So Miss 
Ellen taught us to recite Watts' hymns, and whole 
chapters of the Bible. They who recited most and 
best, received rewards, such as the teacher of the 
week day-school gave us. Those who learned the 
most during the season, were to have a New Testa- 
ment. Then she sung with us, and sometimes ex- 
plained the Scriptures we recited, or exhorted us 
to love the Saviour. It was " harmless," people said> 
though they " could see no good to come of it." 
Good ? There was in it all the elements of the re- 
generation of the town ! It revived in men's minds 
the idea that the young needed a Saviour. It was a 
lesson on the need of a new heart, that impressed 
the most thoughtless. True, the means were not so 
adapted to awaken thought and lead the heart of a 
child to Christ, as those our Sabbath school children 
now enjoy. But the lesson was never lost in Home, 
on the community, or on those children. Of all 
that youthful group, hardly one now lives a prayer- 
less life ! Widely scattered over the world, almost 
every living one is a living Christian. Some have 
already entered the Permanent Life before us, leav- 



118 HOME. 

ing behind them the evidences of their genuine faith 
and holy love. True, other agencies have led them 
to Christ ; but here the seeds of life were sown. 
The only immediate result of the school, was the 
recalling to men's minds the principles before ad- 
verted to. But that was a great stride towards a 
revival of a pure faith. It did not fail to call forth 
opposition. And, before the summer closed, it was 
an understood thing that « Miss Ellen C. was crazy." 
Poor Ellen ! the storm was indeed near ! 

HI. The Cloud. 
"Ellen C. has run off! Get up quick! All the 
neighbors are out in search of her. She took no 
clothes that they can find, and, if she is not found 
before night, she will perish in the cold." Such 
was the startling cry that roused us, before daylight, 
one of the coldest March mornings I ever knew. 
The snow still covered the ground. The night had 
been cold and frosty. Clouds hung over the eastern 
sky, and everything boded a cold storm of sleet and 
rain, if not a fall of snow. A few hours of such 
weather must destroy the life of a delicate woman, 
without much clothing, and who had no reason to 
guide her feeble steps. The day was one of intense 
anxiety. More than an hundred men searched the 
barns,"fields and woods for miles around. No trace 



HOME. 



119 



of her was to be found. It began to be suspected 
that suicide had closed her career. 

Ellen was indeed insane. What had broken 
down that glorious intellect ? 

Little did she think what keen reproaches, what 
taunts, what scorn, what alienations of friends, and 
malice of foes, would follow her efforts to win the 
young and old to Christ. But, hard as the struggle 
was, all this could be borne, for Christ was honored. 
He had suffered, and his followers must. 

But there were pangs in store for her, she had 
never looked for. He, the loved one, the idolized, 
treated her new hopes and joys as enthusiastic folly, 
or worse ! And, worse than all, it began to be whis- 
pered that the wine cup was so often in his hands, 
that honor and reputation would soon be lost, if it 
was not already. The heart's worshipped one, 
proved unworthy ! Love leaned on a broken reed 
that pierced its heart. The shock was too great for 
such a passionate nature. Had that nature, from 
infancy, been subjected to the control of the gospel, 
it might have withstood it ; but now, after days and 
nights of sleepless anguish, the glorious intellect 
gave way. Reason was unstrung, and Ellen be- 
came a maniac ! The resources of the healing art 
were employed in vain ; reason would not come 
back at their bidding. Who did not mourn that so 



120 



HOME. 



dark a cloud had passed over her life ? Some of 
the enemies of her holy faith said, that " it was 
just what they had expected from her new notions 
of religion." But there were candid men who saw 
further, or knew better. And now, she had left 
her dwelling in the night time. 

Hundreds of willing hearts had gathered, before 
dawn, from a wide region of country, with lanterns 
and rakes. The river margin was minutely exam- 
ined, and no trace of her discovered. Parts of it 
were dragged. The ponds were still closed with 
ice, save one ; but no discovery was made there. 

Dividing into groups, as day broke, they determi- 
ned to leave no square rod of ground unexplored. 
Happily the weather was somewhat warmer, though 
it was almost freezing. Few looked to see Ellen 
alive. The woods, fields, fences, barns, houses, 
swamps, all were explored again and again. About 
noon, one thought he saw something white moving 
in a clump of bushes he had just passed. Turning 
again, poor Ellen was found, in her night dress, al- 
most exhausted. She had wandered about for 
hours, and at last laid down in the shallow water in 
which the bushes grew, and tried, she said, to drink 
herself to death, when she found them too shallow 
to drown her. She was tenderly conveyed to her 
home again. Little evil resulted from the exposure, 



HOME. 



but no good. To this day she is the same. Her 
mania is generally of a quiet, harmless sort. Some- 
times she is some great one : a king, a mighty con- 
queror. Her favorite fancy is, that she is Christ 
With looks of dignity and kindness she will de- 
mand the homage due to her as the Saviour. Of- 
ten she will suffer herself to be reasoned out of her 
fancies; and then her conversation is both spiritual 
and instructive. In the common affairs of life it is 
not seen, save in the indifference to them all. Like 
many other insane persons, no one ever heard Ellen 
allude to her early sorrows. Even now, Christians 
love to visit her. Holy love to her Saviour and to 
all who bear his image, so fills her heart, that none 
can doubt the reality of her religious affections. 
Insane, the intellect may be ; but conscience will 
not suffer men to say that such holy affections are 
insane. They know they are right and rational. 
The power of the uncontrolled human affections 
may unseat reason ; but none can doubt that the 
love of God rules in the heart. Education for the 
intellect only, does not diminish the amount of 
crime or insanity. There's not an affection of our 
nature but requires more care and nurture, often 
more restraint, than any power of the intellect. 
Religious influence in early youth, is the only power 
that can so educate the heart. When Sabbath 
11 



122 



HOME. 



schools and parental fidelity have fully done their 
office, we shall need no insane hospitals, no prisons. 
"The child shall be an hundred years old," because 
its tender spirit shall be taught by the Holy Spirit, 
and formed into the divine model of holy purity, 
intelligence and love. 



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123 



CHAPTER IX. 

The mission sermons— Givers not losers — Weakness made 
strong : folly, wise— The dream— The poor widow— The 
learned taught humility— The sailor preacher— The 
heart, the best controversialist — New sects arise when 
needed— The sons of Home, abroad— The natural heart 
shown. 

Perhaps, on earth, the bright intellect of Ellen C. 
will never awaken to a distinct perception of the 
results of her labors and prayers. But in the Spirit 
land, where the mind sees all effects and knows all 
the causes of human action, will not her soul re- 
joice ? 

Sabbath schools were not again resumed in Home 
for many years; but the power of that humble ef- 
fort was never forgotten. 

In pursuing the detail of causes of revived faith, I 
shall dwell most on those which relate to princi- 
ples of action, not the mere detail of events. 

The work of missions to the heathen, that thrice 
blessed labor of holy zeal, commenced before the 
separation between the friends and foes of the Pil- 
grim faith was complete. In all classes, many op- 



124 



HOME. 



posed the plan, at first. But many others were in- 
terested, for a time, even from the novelty of the 
thing. Missions to the heathen ! Since Mayhew's 
time the churches had not heard of such a thing. 
Neither, in the Protestant world, had the idea been 
acted on, by system, in any country, till a recent 
date. One of the first missionaries sent forth by 
our churches, visited Home, and laid before the 
people the objects of his mission. Some knew it 
was an " orthodox " movement, and that it called 
for their money. A covetous rich man declared he 
would give nothing. A rich church-member left 
her money at home, for she " would not encourage 
beggars." The plain, faithful preaching, and the 
picture of the state of the heathen world lying in 
wickedness affected many hearts unused to such 
emotions. The covetous man gave liberally, and 
the lady borrowed, that she might do so likewise. 
It was the first time, for ages, that the churches at 
Home had been called on, as Christians, to act out 
the spirit of benevolence to the guilty ! There was 
not much piety left. The appeal was novel; the 
topics new ; the sympathies awakened, more than 
the conscience. But the result was creditable to 
their liberality. It tended to establish again in the 
minds of men, the idea of duty towards sinful men. 
The giver is doubly blessed. His sympathies will 



HOME. 



125 



follow bis gifts. This enlarges his affections, and 
his mind also. It tends to prepare his mind for di- 
vine influences for his own salvation. So that the 
maxim, " there is that giveth, and yet increaseth," 
is based on a law of our nature. It is part of our 
spirit— and nature too. And if I had no other ob- 
ject in training my children to liberal habits, I would 
do it as a means of preparing them to receive and 
be benefited in the highest degree by the grace of 
the gospel. And I have remarked, that of those 
who were most deeply interested, on that occasion, 
quite a number have since become God's children. 
It is not that divine grace is bestowed as a reward 
for beneficent acts but because such acts break 
down the bulwarks of our selfish nature, and pre- 
pare the soul, pursuant to its own laws, to receive 
the truth in the love of it. There is no doubly for- 
tified wall of 'selfish habits to oppose the claims of 
a gospel whose essence is self-denying love, or be- 
nevolence in heart and life. "He that watereth 
shall also himself be watered," expresses the same 
law of our nature. So has God written on man's 
nature every principle of his law. And there is 
not an element in our nature but is set at naught 
by a life of sin. If the churches can be induced to 
give, to the point of real sacrifice, a manifest increase 
of holiness and blessing will therefore follow, by 
IP 



126 



HOME. 



the same law. On the other hand, " there is that 
withholdeth more than is meet ; but it tendeth to 
poverty." It makes God frown, because it is cher- 
ishing selfish feelings. Selfish feelings contract and 
impair the vigor of the mental powers, both by 
their direct influence, and by removing the highest 
motives and incitements to mental action ; and also 
by excluding from the mind the most ennobling 
thoughts on a vast variety of topics. These alone 
would educate and invigorate the mind. 

An eminent living statesman is accustomed to 
prepare himself for any great intellectual effort by 
the reading of the Psalms, Prophets, Epistles and 
other portions of the Bible. It is not to borrow 
thoughts ; for they often contain nothing germane to 
his intended labor. But he finds it gives more vig- 
or to his mind, more clearness and justness to his 
views than all other modes of training. Often have 
I found the effect of prayer — by which the intellect 
was brought under the same class of spiritual influ- 
ences that flow from the Bible— strengthen the me- 
mory, guide the wavering judgment aright, and add 
force, dignity and beauty to efforts from which I 
have before drawn back, as tasks beyond the reach 
of my powers. So Luther reasoned, in his maxim, 
" To have prayed well is to have studied well." 
By the same law, right action aids in the in- 



HOME 



127 



vestigation of truth. "He that doeth his will, shall 
know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." The 
marked and beneficent spiritual changes in sects of 
errorists that have warmly enlisted in temperance, 
anti-slavery, moral reform, and other labors of Chris- 
tian benevolence is noticed, even by themselves. 
Their bitterness against the pure faith and those 
who love it ceases. Acting on its principles, they 
gradually assimilate their belief to it. They often 
think the change is in others ; but it is in their own 
hearts, and results from the operation of the law of 
benevolence. 

" Sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor." 
What meant the precept, and its promise, " and 
thou shalt have treasure in heaven ?" The same 
law explains it. It did not promise heaven as a re- 
ward for an act of self-denial ; but such acts tend 
most powerfully to secure the possession of right 
affections towards God and man. It is by the same 
law that beneficent action in states and communities 
prepares men's hearts for a general diffusion of 
spiritual blessings. But to return. 

The influence of several pious school-teachers, 
from abroad, was a great blessing in Home. Their 
prayers, their lives taught the young to respect piety. 
Their intelligence reunited, in older minds, the asso- 
ciation between piety and knowledge. Those who 



128 



HOME. 



once looked on spiritual religion as a weakness, 
could no longer do so. Observation showed, too, 
that the intellectual growth of the young mind un- 
der such teachers, was more rapid, was more health- 
ful. So strongly is this often felt, that I have known 
infidels take great pains to secure pious teachers in 
schools placed under their control. The power of 
the gospel is hidden from their own hearts, but 
they see its beneficial results, and desire to enjoy 
them. 

Who does not admire the condescension of God 
to human weakness ; his pity for man's folly and 
guilt ! Men's weaknesses, errors and sins are often 
made the means of recalling themselves or others to 
the path of life. Such instances have not been want- 
ing in Home. 

A young and lovely woman, from the very hum- 
blest class of society, extremely ignorant, though 
not without good powers of mind, was early mar- 
ried, and removed to a distant State. There, under 
the influence of a revival in the Methodist body, she 
became the subject of Divine grace. Widowed and 
childless, she returned to her native town. She 
brought with her poverty, so far as this world's 
goods went, but a rich heart, for God and his Son 
made it their dwelling. Who could doubt it, who 
saw her holy living, and listened to her conversa- 



HOME. 



129 



tion ? There was only one other Christian in the 
neighborhood, a lady in much higher station ; but 
they became almost inseparable friends. The great 
Lord of life was the chiefest among ten thousands 
to each, and they saw him in each other. It was a 
dark neighborhood ; and her old associates, her 
near neighbors, all with whom she was most likely 
to come in contact, were of the class I have before 
spoken of; illiterate, neglecters of the Bible and of 
public worship. 

Ardent in feeling, she convinced them all of her 
sincerity, — a great point gained. One of the most 
useful living ministers, one who lays no claim to 
profound scholarship or eminent talents, when I 
asked the secret of his usefulness, especially to the 
educated, a class for whose benefit I always thought 
his labors poorly adapted, replied, " I know not, 
unless it is, that they all have a deep conviction 
that I am sincere'' or hearty, in the work. It is not 
merely to be in earnest, or zealous, or eloquent ; 
but to make men feel that there is a singleness of 
purpose that looks alone to the good of their souls. 
That is the sincerity my excellent and honored 
friend intended. " I seek not yours, but you," was 
equally the lesson of the widow's life. 

Then, she was not very refined; she was not 
above them, but one of their own sort of folks. They 



130 



HOME. 



could talk to her freely ! Nay, they could out-argue 
her, sometimes, if they could not prove that her 
manifest holiness was a fancy ; that they did not 
try ! Then the widow was credulous, in some mat- 
ters, to an extreme. Endowed with a fund of com- 
mon sense, in the affairs of life, she yet was full of 
dreams and visions of both earthly and heavenly 
things. 

It is in vain to reason a large portion of even ed- 
ucated persons out of their faith in dreams. Call it 
credulity, or what you will, there is a fascination 
about these visions of the night few can wholly re- 
sist. So it is with " signs," both of events in the 
natural and social and spiritual worlds. No strength 
of philosophical intellect, no treasures of learning, 
no sceptical habits of mind, no want of natural rev- 
erence, frees the mind wholly from this influence. 
And many will think that the mind, shut out from 
the fetters of sense, has glimpses of the future, and 
of the spirit world which are not accorded to our 
waking hours. It may all be delusion, but it is one 
that is only refined, not banished, by increasing 
knowledge. Among the illiterate such ideas are 
nearly universal. They also connect them with re- 
ligion also. And the representations of the Scrip- 
ture that such things have been, leads them to attach 
a value to our dreams far beyond their intrinsic in- 



HOME. 



131 



terest. With the philosophy of dreams — with all 
philosophies of dreaming ! — I have long been fa- 
miliar. They have little real philosophy in them ! 
Why undertake to explain the action of mind with- 
out a body ? (For this is clearly essential to any 
full exposition of it). Idle as most dreams are, their 
influence over the life is sometimes very great 
" He that hath a dream, let him tell a dream." In 
my childhood, when about seven years old, I dream- 
ed I was dead, and in hell ! It seemed not unlike 
the scenery of our world. Its devil, not unlike a 
smiling man ! He offered to the lost, beautiful and 
fragrant fruits, that turned to bitter ashes in the 
mouth ; and still he smiled ! There seemed no re- 
straint on men's motions, or intercourse. Their suf- 
ferings were in their hearts. Full of anguish at be- 
ing shut up with the wicked, I approached the low 
wall that seemed to divide the place from heaven ! 
Child as I was, I could see over it ; but had no pow- 
er to climb it. It seemed as if the help must come 
from the heavenly side. I looked around for it. 
Presently, the forms of my venerable grand-parents 
seemed to pass by, mingled with throngs of happy 
faces. I called for help. They only looked at me 
mournfully, and passed on. I could not blame or 
envy them. "It is right, it is just" was the feeling 
irresistibly impressed on my mind. For the first 



132 HOME. 

time in my life, I knelt, and tried to pray, not to be 
saved from hell ; for it never had, in all my life, any 
terror to my mind ; but to be reserved from such a 
just punishment. The habit of secret prayer then 
formed, was never wholly lost, through long years 
of youthful folly and sin, till I united with Yale 
College Church, in 1831. I attach no value to 
dreams. For years, when in health, I have had 
none. I listen impatiently to the recital of them. 
Still the most permanent influence that has acted 
on my life, perhaps, was this dream of early child- 
hood ! 

I wonder not at their power over minds natural- 
ly credulous, and also devout. No doubt the wid- 
ow's visions and semi-prophecies, which always 
boded blessings, tended very greatly to secure to 
her faith its proper influence over a large class of 
minds. To them, it was the poetry and romance 
of religion. They who are insensible to such in- 
fluences, and laugh at them when they appear in 
the grosser forms of dreams and trances, should 
never read Paradise Lost, or the Faery Queen ! 
The widow had strong faith in the power of pray- 
er. She was sure that God would answer her. Nay, 
in a vision He had shown her that He was soon to 
revive his work of grace in Home. Had she not 
seen in a dream, a great light flaming up, in the 



HOME. 



133 



direction of the dwelling of a rich family ; and then 
little lights also, at intervals, all over the town ? 
People smiled at her " silly fancies," but they had 
a good influence, still ! And her tender appeals to 
the heart were, in connection with her holy living, 
the means of leading several, in her own class, to 
love the Saviour. What a feast it was, when Jive 
women, in that one neighborhood, could meet and 
talk and sing and pray to the Saviour they loved ! 
There was not such another place in all the town. 
Some set it all down as the dreams of silly women : 
but others sighed and wished they could share the 
same joys and hopes, if it was only in their dreams ! 

In another circle, equally ignorant, perhaps more 
so, in a distant corner of the town, a like influence 
was exerted by a poor despised man, who had been 
brought to Christ by the preaching of a Baptist 
pastor, in a distant place where he sought work. 
His prayers, and those of a few others gathered 
around him, resulted in the end, in the formation 
of a Baptist church. 

There is far too little sympathy between the ed- 
ucated and the ignorant. When men learn that 
God endows them with knowledge only that they 
may do more to benefit their fellows, they will not 
be " puffed up" nor disgust their less favored breth- 
ren by their pride in their superior intelligence. 
12 



134 HOME. 

Education and learning have little moral value if 
they do not teach us to be " clothed with humility," 
to be meek, gentle, patient, especially with the poor 
and obscure, the ignorant and the weak. The pas- 
tor's of Home were ever men of learning ; but they 
had alienated the poor and the ignorant from God's 
house by their neglect, by their pride, by their want 
of sympathy. The poor, no longer had the gospel 
preached to them, to any great extent. The deep 
rooted prejudices such classes entertain against ed- 
ucated ministers, who does not know ? The man 
of learning can overcome them, if he will. His 
knowledge was given him, in trust, for their good. 
They know their claims upon it. But they have as 
much pride as the man of learning, and do not like 
to see the airs of the teacher put on ! They want 
its results, and will joyfully receive them from one 
whose meekness arrogates no superiority, and 
whose justice and true benevolence sees in every 
man a brother, and a child of the same Father. 
In this should the man of education learn to be 
a child ; while in understanding he is a man. 

Too many of those who preach a purer faith, 
practically despise the poor. They are clannish ; 
they love and seek educated society. They forget, 
insensibly, the claims of the ignorant and the poor. 
The Literary Soiree is a source of high enjoyment ; 



HUME. 



135 



and for this they forego the far richer pleasure of 
imparting their stores to those who lack. This is 
the true source of the prejudices of masses of men 
against education in the pastor and in other profes- 
sional men. And, in reference to these prejudices, 
I have often thought, that the popular lectures on 
the sciences by our literary men were, in fact, a 
most effective preaching of the gospel ! 

It is no reproach, now, to the ministry of the 
Baptist and Methodist bodies, to say, that a large 
portion of their predecessors were extremely illit- 
erate, and themselves in many cases, filled with pre- 
judices against learning in the ministry. But that 
very circumstance, combined with their encourage- 
ment of " visions," " trances," " dreams," and like ex- 
cesses, with their warm piety and love of souls, 
won them popular favor with the neglected and ig- 
norant classes. When one, now among the most 
eloquent men of our time, began his career, in a 
back school-house in Home, it is said he could not 
read. But one could hear him preach for a mile ! 
He " cried aloud," indeed, and " spared not" his 
lungs or men's ears ! He was visionary, though 
pious ; ignorant, though sincere ; " God gave him 
all, he said, for no man had ever lar'nt him," or 
" torched him !" It was very true, so far as the af- 
fections of his heart, and his yearning, longing de- 



136 



HOME. 



sire to save souls were concerned. He knew little, 
but he felt much. He spoke, like a thunder clap, 
when a gentle whisper was enough ; but the words 
he uttered in loudest tones were, " sin," * death," 
"judgment," "Christ and the cross." His own 
feelings suited well the prejudices of his hearers. 
They knew as much or more than he, of every 
thing save " the love of God shed abroad in their 
hearts by the Holy Ghost." And God helped him 
to teach some of them that divine lesson. Known, 
now, all over our own, and in other lands, praised 
in the Senate house, for his usefulness, he can still 
throw the arm of a brother round the neck of a 
diseased and guilty sailor, and ask his brother to go 
with him to the Saviour for healing and pardon, 
with the same simple zeal he showed in Home, 
long years ago. Neither his voice nor his words 
are forgotten there. 

The pastors of Home, while they gave men no 
ideas of the real nature of the faith of our fathers, 
succeeded infilling them with prejudices against the 
words employed to express some of the offensive 
doctrines of the cross ; doctrines essential to a ma- 
tured and intelligent piety, though not, with most 
minds, to its existence, or its joys. I speak of the 
great principles of the divine government over men, 
including all that is embraced in the idea of God's 



HOME. 137 

sovereign dominion. The bumble, cordial, entire, 
unlimited submission of all our hopes, fears, joys 
and wishes to the Divine Will, must be in some 
form secured. It is, though by a great diversity of 
means. The Methodist body, in proportion to the 
intelligence and real holiness of its members see it, 
though they are opposed to some of those Scriptu- 
ral doctrines that, in the higher class of reasoning 
minds, are connected with such submission, as 
cause with effect. But their very hostility to these 
views gave them favor with many men, to whom, 
after conciliating their prejudices on these and other 
points, they preached the glory of the atoning Sa- 
viour, as a deliverer from sin. I have no doubt 
they have won many thousands to Christ, thus. 
And when the Holy Spirit does this blessed work, 
in filling the heart with the love of God, the same 
elements of faith, submission, humility, meekness, 
zeal, brotheily kindness and charity, will, in the 
end, always appear, however diverse and imperfect 
the teachings may be to the intellect. And truly 
spiritual men differ far less than they sometimes 
think, in respect to all the doctrines that enter into 
the elements of a Christian life. There are some 
men, many minds, by their very constitution, limited 
to the " first principles" of the faith. For others, 
in order to attain perfection and ripeness of char- 
12* 



138 HOME. 

acter, other doctrines are needed. And the Bible 
has its " heights and depths" for some, as well as 
its glorious but simple truths for others. But it has 
often delighted me to see how truths intellectually 
rejected, entered in fact, deeply into the Christian 
experience of those who denied them. The logi- 
cal statement of the idea was rejected, but the 
grace of the Holy Spirit had given power to the 
principle, in the heart. It early taught me a lesson 
respecting controversy with real Christians. We 
can agree, and make prayers towards unity in the 
faith, just so long as we reason to, and from the heart, 
and that heart is enriched with the teachings of the 
blessed Spirit. Reverse the process, and every 
step commonly widens our differences, and produ- 
ces bitter feelings among those who should love as 
brethren. Every sect, as holiness increases, learn 
to place a higher value on an educated ministry. 
But if, when they have obtained it, they pervert the 
blessing, become "puffed up," and neglect to min- 
ister to the ignorant, the weak, the poor, and suffer 
them to be alienated from their hearts, God will 
raise up other sects, who will be fitted to meet even 
the prejudices of the ignorant, and who have hu- 
mility enough to " condescend to men of low es- 
tate." The new sect may differ from the old, in 
some even important doctrine of the Bible. But 



HOME. 



139 



so long as they hold fast the cross of Christ, God 
will use their labors to raise up many sons and 
daughters for glory, who otherwise might have per- 
ished in sin. He "will have all men come unto 
him." And when one sect neglect any part of His 
vineyard, He shows the pity and tenderness of His 
Divine heart by sending others who shall teach 
those who err, and guide them to the Lamb. 

I said that for a generation, the young and en- 
terprising were drawn away from Home to other 
places.— God, the God of our fathers ordered this, 
in mercy to the posterity of his covenant keeping 
children. It is a remarkable fact, that of all the 
scores who thus left their native soil, God, in a few 
years, brought nearly all back to the faith of their 
fathers, both in intellect and in heart. True, in 
some instances, this was easily traced to the power 
of a spiritual religion in the places of their new 
abode. But in the most cases, it was not so. In 
one town, where the darkness was dense as that of 
Home, in its darkest hours, God raised up a church, 
eminently spiritual and intelligent, planted on the 
faith of the fathers, and composed almost entirely 
of the sons and daughters of Home. In many and 
distant States, often under the worst influences, the 
Spirit sought them out, and led their feet to the 
Rock, and that Rock was the Christ their fathers 
loved. He is one that " keepeth his covenant." 



140 



HOME. 



ODe was a preacher of error, surrounded by a 
rich church who loved him ; far away from Home. 
But he was near to the heart of our fathers' God. 
And, in the pride of his intellect, and strength of his 
love for error, his heart was bowed before the cross 
of the Saviour, whose power and glory he denied. 
Another, eager for gain, in the marts of a crowded 
city, was taught to get gain richer than the most 
fine gold. Another, where " storm was upon the 
midnight waters" far from the land and from the 
influences of the gospel, was led by His hand who 
guides the storm, to rest on the same Saviour. Did 
they cease to love their birth-place, when Divine 
love filled their hearts ? Their letters, their visits, 
then* prayers, will answer. They warned, they 
reasoned, they prayed, and with tears often be- 
sought the old friends of then* youth to be recon- 
ciled to God. And it was not in vain. Though 
the prophet is less honored in his own country, 
sometimes, yet in other cases he finds willing hearts, 
that, for love's sake will receive his message. The 
more instances of such conversion occurred, and 
the oftener these loved ones returned, the more the 
gospel became associated, in men's minds, with all 
the tender, human affections of our nature. And 
this is always a great point gained. The power of 
sympathy can then act, in subduing the pride of 



HOME. 



141 



the heart, and recalling the erring intellect to the 
faith of the fathers. It is difficult to exert a direct 
influence for Christ over our family relations. They 
know our faults so well, and we are so conscious 
that they do, that we are reluctant to address 
them with the fidelity we can freely use with stran- 
gers. But if we truly live for Christ, and our sin- 
cere devotion is manifest, not all our known foibles 
and sins will prevent the voice of affection from 
reaching the heart. True, a man's foes sometimes 
are found in his own household. Some are embit- 
tered against the gospel in proportion as they be- 
come acquainted with its nature. Perhaps the 
most bitter enemy of the gospel in all Home, is one 
of those, who for many years has most clearly un- 
derstood its principles ; nay, had much to do, in 
earlier days, with its revival. The love of sin in 
the heart will not always yield to the voice of con- 
science or an enlightened judgment. So our Lord 
teaches when he tells unbelievers, " Now ye have 
both seen and hated both me and my Father." The 
very preaching of its truths leads some sinners to 
embrace their opposite errors. And the manifesta- 
tions of the power of grace in some hearts, are ac- 
companied by a more bitter hostility in the hearts 
of those who refuse to have Christ reign over them. 
The proud, the vain, the lover of pleasure, the man 
ambitious of worldly honor, as well as the openly 



142 



HOME. 



vicious, will show the enmity of their hearts against 
the Holy one, when the gospel disturbs their self- 
complacency ; they will resist its claims till the pow- 
er of the Spirit softens their hearts, convinces them 
of their sinful nature and life, and leads them to re- 
joice in Christ, their Saviour. 

How flamed the enmity to the gospel, in many 
hearts in Home, when, at last, the truly pious, en- 
couraged by their increasing numbers, established 
Sabbath worship, and employed pastors, once more, 
like in faith and holiness, to those whose ministry 
our fathers loved! " The town would be impover- 
ished by so many churches." The valuations show 
a large increase of wealth ! " These people will 
come to poverty, by paying so much to new teach- 
ers and churches, and other new objects." The 
pious have rapidly and steadily increased in wealth, 
in almost every instance ! " They mean to say we 
are not Christians." Ah, there spake the guilty 
conscience, awakening from the sleep of ages, and 
seeing Christ afar off! The gospel was no longer 
to be veiled from men's understandings, though 
they were still free to reject the reign of holy love 
over their hearts. Grace has a " constraining" but 
no compulsory power over man. God worketh in 
us, both to will and to do his pleasure, but never 
forces one heart into his service. The Christian 
convert says, " I rejoice to do thy will, O God !" 



HOME. 



143 



CHAPTER X. 

PHYSIC FOR A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. 

I. The wedding. 
It was an old family mansion, built when timber 
was plenty and boards cheap ! The very garret con- 
tained more square feet than a modern built cottage 
ornee. The high spacious rooms, painted in land- 
scape, furnished with heavy, old, rich carved furni- 
ture spoke of wealth and ancestral taste. The 
yellow paint was something faded ; but the twin- 
ing honeysuckle and jasmine added a far richer 
ornament, reaching to the very roof tree, and half 
shading the windows. The very offices round the 
dwelling look like plenty. The barns— long ranges 
of building — are filled with hay and grain ; and 
the hired man is just driving into the yard a herd 
of cattle and sheep that a Patriarch might not de- 
spise for numbers or beauty. Between the barn 
and corn-house you can just get a glimpse, over 
the hill tops, of the rich hickory woods that furnish 
that noble wood-pile, with its two years' supply of 
seasoned wood in advance, that looks provident for 



144 



HOME. 



human comfort. The dwellers here need fear no 
fierce wintry storm ! Look, where the sun is just 
setting in a blaze of glory, that perfectly dazzles 
you ! Shade your eyes, and get a view of that 
noble orchard of every variety of fruit, and the 
garden and shrubbery, close at your feet. No want 
of fruits or pulse for the well furnished table, or 
cider richer than wine for the cellar. Just now the 
laborers are gathering the last winter apples. Count 
up the barrels. One, two, twenty, eighty, two 
hundred barrels! Why there's fruit enough for all 
Home. Doubtless there is a greater variety stored 
and preserved. For you may see round the gar- 
den rows of quince trees, plumbs, apricots, pears, 
currants, raspberries, and every other delicious thing 
our cold climate will nourish. And there is even a 
green house, yonder, half hidden under the hill- 
side, for exotic flowers and fruits, and to supply 
early vegetables for the table. 

Then in front, and round the dwelling, see how 
rich the green turf is, spotted over with rose bushes 
and lilacs. But lift up your eyes a little. See the 
successive terraces, faced with hewn stone, rough 
hewn, for ornament ; and loaded with every flower 
that will bloom in autumn. You see the roots of 
many a spring and summer beauty have been 
carried to the hot house. Here is taste presiding 



HOME. 



145 



over wealth. Raise your eyes again, and follow 
my hand ! Do you see that green spot, to the east, 
under that hill, where the horses are drinking? 
There is the spring. Now trace the little stream 
down hitherwards, through the pasture, by the line 
of verdure. It crosses the road in a broad sheet of 
clear, sparkling water. There is a load of guests, 
coming to the bridal, driving over the rustic bridge. 
Who are they, I wonder ? No matter ; the rich 
and happy have many friends. The brook passes 
so close to the terrace wall that we must go to it, 
to see the pickerel and trout disporting in its hollows. 
Mark how it winds away to the south, through that 
broad rich meadow, till it is lost in the woods, 
almost a mile off. Follow the high road, in the 
same direction, and count the houses, of every 
form, size and fashion. There you can see the 
oldest house in town ! Just over it you see the high 
steeple of our church. Some people do say, that 
it is a pity the vane is so near to heaven, and 
the people's hearts so far off! But come! I see 
the guests are going into the parlor, the parson 
must have come while we have been gazing on the 
bride's rich farm and fine prospects. 

There stands the young bride, the owner of the 
old mansion, and its rich grounds. She is clad in 
simple white. Why should she be ornamented ? 
13 



146 HOME. 

Every one knows she is rich. She is rather short- 
no fault, in my eye. Her form is round, a little too 
full ; but never mind it. Her long hair curls in the 
neck. There's a single rose bud, half blown, stuck 
in the golden clasp of her girdle, and another half 
hidden in that ringlet over the left brow. Her blue 
eyes, that commonly lack expression, are surely 
beautiful now 1 She is speaking to his sister; that 
accounts for it. The expression is mild; but the 
slight move of the lip and nostril speak of decision. 
That round forehead, and head drawn back, tell of 
pride as well as power. The smile is too stately 
for me ; but I am not the lover ; only his cousin, 
which makes all the odds in the world. See that 
rich library! There are many things which the 
elegant literature of our own and other lands and 
tongues can supply. It is most of it a bridal pre- 
sent. I wish there was more of religion, less of 
taste, there. There is, to be sure, Blair, beside of 
Byron; Lathrop's sermons, stuck between two 
volumes of Rosseau's Emilie ; but they are not 
much, that is, not so very much better. So, it is 
literature without religion. How old is the bride ? 
Just twenty-four, to-day. 

The bridegroom is not tall, but certainly the 
most elegant man in the room, tho' the parson does 
feel so proud of his stately form! He must be 



HOME. 



147 



about twenty-six. I don't quite like his eye ; it is 
too sensual. But his fine features are manly. They 
say he was wild in college. Nay, that he was ear- 
ned to his room intoxicated, commencement night. 
But he has studied law, since, and it is to be hoped 
he learned the laws of temperance. His old, rich 
family, honored for generations, would not suffer 
him to marry this heiress if he was not correct in 
his habits. I donH like to see so much infidel litera- 
ture in that book case. If he must have the Hen- 
riade, he might have left out the Dictionaire Phi- 
losophique, so called, because there's no philosophy 
in it! But how happy James looks! I did not 
think, when I laughed with him, last spring, about 
the heiress, that they would be united so soon, if 
ever. But he has gained his first cause, and I do 
not believe he will care to plead another ! 

The solemn words of blessing were uttered. 
There was stillness, some tears, then kisses, con- 
gratulations, feasting, the sparkling goblet, mirth, 
wit and song, till the guests retired to their homes. 

II. The funeral. 
Two years later the same guests were again as- 
sembled, clothed in the garments of woe. There 
was a crowd in and around the dwelling, filling 
every room and the whole yard. There was an 



148 HOME. 

expression of pity and pain, rather than sorrow, on 
almost every face. Look back a little. James was 
by birth, education, professional attainments, men- 
tal gifts and wealth, justly entitled to rank with the 
first young men of his time. The pet son, he had 
been too much indulged. The collage bills were 
large ; but so were his father's, before him. There 
were too many " wines" and " suppers," by far, for 
entire sobriety; but he graduated with honor. 
Young men would be wild, a little ; so his father 
said, and the whole family agreed. His profession 
was only to give him some gentlemanly calling. 
There was no lack of wealth. Besides, political 
eminence was what he aspired to, and what his 
friends wished. Now married into an old and 
wealthy family, with popular talents, pleasing man- 
ners, education, leisure, and many friends, what 
might he not hope for ? 

The friends and the bride knew not that the 
habits of intemperance were already formed ; that 
the eye was often brilliant with the excitement of 
champaign, and the song inspired by incipient de- 
Mum. We little thought of such things, then, in 
the days of darkness. Fond of elegant literature 
were the whole family circle. The bridal months 
passed away brilliantly, happily. The cloud in the 
distance was not noted. In the opening spring, he 



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149 



must become the gentleman farmer. He must 
work with his laborers, or pretend to, and drink 
with them. By autumn he was often drunk with 
them ! By another year, his only associates were 
low, drunken laborers, intoxicated in the field before 
noon, every day. The farm was neglected, money 
wasted, friends lost, bad passions roused, oaths 
common, brutality towards all but his wife, frequent, 
and hope of reform gone ! Who shall tell how the 
young, childless woman mourned over her lost 
visions of bliss? How she sought refuge from 
trouble in literary pursuits, in music, in song, in 
social visits ! How her pale cheek and passion- 
less eye told of a breaking heart ! Had one word 
of unkindness ever fallen from him, it would have 
broken ! So he died, as the fool dieth, and we all 
came to mourn with the living, and to bury the 
loathsome body out of her sight. There was no 
consolation for her, in the character of the departed ; 
the healing power of the gospel she knew not. 
The pastor, in his prayer, said that time soothed our 
sorrows, and the offices of friendship. So why 
speak of the gospel ? So we buried him, and left 
the young widow alone to weep. 

III. The brother's letter. 

" Dearest G. My beloved and most cherished sis- 

13* 



150 



HOME. 



ter, my heart is deeply wounded by the news of 
your affliction. If my love, my tears, my very life 
could give you consolation, you know they should 
be yours. I will not, I must not, speak of him you 
have lost. I do mourn over his untimely grave ; 
but, my sister, I mourn far more for you ! You 
have no comforter ! You would not hear me, in 
the hours of joy. Your heart ached with the ex- 
cess of your happiness, present and in near pros- 
pect. You said you admired the divine beneficence, 
and were grateful for every blessing ; you loved the 
Giver! Ah sister, your love and gratitude were 
only the refection of your own happiness. Every- 
thing smiled on you, and your smiles answered 
again. You were offended when I told you that 
your heart was far from God, and was lifted up with 
sinful pride. You almost denied that I loved you, 
or appreciated your character. Am I not right, sis- 
ter ? Did I not see in you the picture of my own 
nature, softened as woman's form is, but still the 
same ? When I preached the wiles of error, and 
believed in the native purity of my proud heart, 
was I not just so deceived myself? I thought I 
loved God; but he was not in all my thoughts, in 
the real holiness of his character. My proud heart 
was not subdued to his sovereign will. May I read 
your heart, dearest G. ? Has affliction, so sharp, 



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151 



so severe, so overwhelming, prepared you to see 
what is passing within ? You weep all day, and re- 
fuse to be comforted. The words of sympathy 
seem to be mockery. At night you sleep only from 
exhaustion. In the morning you ask, ' Why is my 
lot so much more bitter than that of others ?' In 
the evening you say, ' I surely have not deserved 
it. What sin have I committed, that God should 
be so severe ? Is this his goodness that smiled so 
serenely upon me ? I expected sorrow and death 
at some time ; but not to have the hopes of my 
youth so blasted. How have I deserved, not suffer- 
ing only, but this shame ?' Do I read you right, 
G. ? Is not this the voice of your heart ? And, in 
in the stillness of the night, does no voice add, 
6 your heart is not right in the sight of the Holy 
One ?' Three months have now passed away, 
since that sad day; and you write me you have no 
comforter still. Suffer one who loves you with 
both a brother's and a father's tenderness, to probe 
your heart, before I point you to that only Comforter 
I know. You find your loved music has lost its 
soothing power ; he used to sing with you. Did you 
ever ' make melody in your heart, unto the Lord V 
Did you ever sing to His praise, with devout affec- 
tions ? 

You loved literature. But what was it ? Did it 



152 HOME. 

tell aught of God, his holy law, the evil of sin, the 
coming judgment, the cross of a Redeemer's mercy 
and agony, the life beyond the dark valley? Was 
not every book of this nature omitted or unread ? 
You read the Bible at times, I know. But did you 
make it the guide of your life ? Did you ever try 
to regulate your affections and your thoughts by its 
holy precepts ? Did you ever seriously try to please 
God, for one entire week, or even day of your life ? 
I know you united with the church, on your mar- 
riage. But did you really feel that you were conse- 
crating your heart to Christ? That you were, 
thenceforth, to ' walk in newness of life ?' I know 
you have sometimes prayed ; but did you ever real- 
ly delight in the presence of the Holy God ? Or 
was it an irksome thought that he read your heart, 
and knew your very thoughts before they were your 
own ? You say you find no pleasure in your former 
literary pursuits, because they so constantly remind 
you of past joys and present sufferings. But if you 
really regarded your Maker as having a right to dis- 
pose of you, would you so murmur? Is he not 
holy ? Is he not perfect in wisdom ? Is he not al- 
ways just ? (I ask your conscience and your under- 
standing; do not let your heart answer for them). 
Does he ever willingly afflict or grieve the children 
of men ? Must there not be in your own character, 



HOME. 153 

ample reasons to justify all these judgments of his 
hand? I know the innocent, the righteous some- 
times suffer. I know you are free from outward 
stain, and grosser passions. But are you holy ? 

Three years ago, you made choice of your com- 
panion. Which was dearest to your heart, he, or 
your God ? Did you not feel that you were strong, 
your life of joy secure beyond doubt or change ? 
Was not your heart lifted up with pride ? Was 
you humble in the day of your prosperity ? Ah, do 
I not know my sister's heart from my own ? Have 
we not had, from infancy, the same joys, sorrows, 
books, favorite topics of thought, views of men, of 
society, and of ' our place 1 in it ? Did you not think 
it a strange thing, five years ago, to have your proud 
brother commend humility, meekness, and forgive- 
ness of injuries ? Did not my sister ask me, 4 if I 
would be coward enough to submit to insult f 
Did you not say that such a religion you could not 
respect ? Was not that the heart of pride ? ' God 
resisteth the proud ; he knoweth their thoughts afar 
off ; but he giveth grace to the humble.' 

You say you shrink even from the society of dear 
friends. Is not this the fruit of your mortified 
pride ? Dearest sister, I weep over your sorrows. 
But I cannot alleviate them by suggesting any ali- 
ment for a sinful heart. I see in all your excessive 



]5 4 HOME. 

sorrow, only the fruits of a proud, selfish, passion- 
ate, unrenewed heart, just such as mine was when 
we wept together hy our dying mother's bedside. 
Have you forgotten my passionate grief? Did I 
not murmur against the Holy One ? I love all that 
circle of friends around you. There is not one of 
them hut I connect some early joy with their forms 
and voices. But does one of them all speak to you 
of the sinful heart, and the atoning Saviour? 
They speak of divine goodness in sparing you yet 
many blessings. But is there one of them all that 
tells" you of the goodness of God in afliicting you? 
No, they do not^ understand that. Their hearts 
have learned submission as little as we had learned 
it, when mother died. Now sister, I beseech you, 
turn not awav from the view of your own sinful 
heart. Let your mind dwell on it, till by God's 
Spirit, you discover, as I did, in my own bosom, its 
dark, deadly depravity. Humble yourself before 
God, and confess your guilt, your pride, your sinful 
life of worldly pleasure, your forgetfulness of the 
claims of his holy character to your love ; of his law, 
to vour heart's obedience: of your fellow-men, to 
your wealth, vour prayers, your toils for their good. 
Did you ever think of loving the souls of others? 
When you taught poor Lily to read the Bible, was 
her salvation from sin and death your motive r 



HOME. 



155 



Did you pray that her heart might be holy ? You 
pitied one so ignorant ; but did you weep over her sin- 
fulness ? Satisfied that she reformed her outward 
life, did you seek to purify her heart ? I speak of her 
as a test of the state of your heart, because she was 
so entirely under your control. You won praise, 
and deserved it, for the decision that rescued her 
from a life of shame, and restored her to society. 
But was it compassion for the woman, or a desire to 
save the sinner ? Did you ever think of praying 
with her ? Did you speak to her of Christ, the dy- 
ing Saviour, who would take away her sius? or was 
it only of virtue, honor, restored happiness and re- 
spect ? You did well ; but did you act as a Chris- 
tian ? 

Have I read your heart, my sister ? Oh then let 
me point you to my Comforter ? Look up to the 
cross ! He died to save you. He has all the affec- 
tions of a loving, human heart. He wept over the 
grave of his friend. He wept with the sisters of 
Bethany. His warmest sympathies are ever with 
the sorrowing. And then, he has poiver ; power to 
take away the very source of all sorrow ; power to 
say: 'daughter, thy sins are forgiven thee.' His 
hand can wipe away all tears, and His Holy Spirit 
fill your bosom, in an hour, with peace, comfort, 
joy. He can reveal to you his own holy, pure, self- 



156 HOME. 

denvine character, as the one worthy object of your 
entire love and worship; and fill your soul with 
such peace as all the world cannot impart or take 
from you. He takes away the remorse for sin, the 
humiliating sense of guilt, the shame of sin. He 
teaches us to abhor our sinful pride, to be clothed 
witb humility, to rejoice in affliction, to strive to 
console ourselves, not by solitude and tears, but by 
doing good to others. You say your poor neighbor 
is dead. Have you been there, two mourners, to 
weep together ? I think I see your heart. It says : 
' she is not a proper associate for me.' I grant it ; 
but the refined, the educated, the gifted, may weep 
with the humblest and most debased of the poor. 
Did not your very station, and your common sor- 
row render it fitting that you should forget, for the 
time, the barriers of society, and carry peace to the 
guilty family if you could ? Ah, sister, the blessed 
Comforter was wanting to your own heart ! The 
spirit of Christ, the image of Divine benevolence 
was not in your own bosom, and you knew not how- 
to comfort one who, like you, had both shame and 
sorrow at once. Oh sister, whom I have so long 
loved, for whom 1 have prayed and wept, even m 
vour proudest days of happiness, let fraternal love 
warn as well as entreat you to flee at once to the 
Saviour. Cast on him your double burden ofsor- 



HOME. 



157 



row and sin ; He will forgive the one, and soothe the 
other, as no power of earthly sympathy can, as no 
ministering angel may. Lift up your fallen spirit to 
the revealed Deity ; the God clothed in the likeness 
of sinful flesh, for the very purpose of removing our 
sins and woes, and so making us 4 partakers of the 
Divine nature.' In the face of the Man of sorrows, 
behold the compassion of a God. In the eye of 
human sympathy, that weeps over the tomb of the 
loved one, see the mercy of the Lord of all power. 
In the voice of his tender love, hear the words of 
glory: 'I am the Resurrection and the Life. He 
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live !' Is not here a balm for your spirit ? Is 
not here a power to give you consolation and 
peace ? Is there not here One worthy of love ? In 
living to Him and for Him who died for us, will 
you not find comfort ? Is he not wisdom, strength, 
life, peace, all the soul needs ? Come, beloved G., 
lay aside the spirit of heaviness, and take from 
Christ the garments of praise. Devote your life to 
Him. Your literary tastes, your musical talents, 
your social influence, your wealth, let all be given 
to the task of winning others to his love. Who, in 
all your circle, give proof that the love of God is 
the spring of their actions? In whose face does 
Christ appear, in the glory of his self-denying love ? 
14 



158 



HOME. 



Oh, wake to live for him ! My dearest sister, I hare 
written with many tears. — with constant prayer. In 
the day of prosperity you thought me harsh, too 
strict, wanting in the mildness of the Christian, be- 
cause I could not smile on a life of pleasure. Now, 
in the day of sorrows, hear my voice of love, and 
let our Saviour bid you live. Then you shall re- 
joice that you have been afflicted: that your bright 
morning found so bitter a night so near. 

With sympathy and love, 

Your brother W. 

March 12, 18—." 

" Cruel, cruel brother ! Why must he add more 
bitterness to my grief? Does he not know I differ 
from him, in his new creed ? Am I to be set down 
as one utterly lost in sin ? But after all" — and here 
was a pause of serious reflection, followed by a 
flood of tears — " after all, he is not unkind. And 
I am proud. Oh, he has been reading my heart 
too truly ! I have lived to myself, and not for 
Christ There is something more than a creed in all 
this. Let me read it again." It was read again, and 
again. Conscience acknowledged the truth of the 
dark picture, so faithfully, yet tenderly drawn. The 
sinful heart began a fierce struggle. Pride coun- 
selled anger at the reprover. The letter was torn 
in two, and cast indignantly aside : and the weep- 



HOME. 



159 



ing, passionate widow fled to her chamber, and 
wept alone, on her bed, in agony — there was no 
sleep for her that night. 

IV. The Physicians. 

A week later, the young widow was tossing on 
her bed, unable to rise. She was sick, so they all 
said, around her ; all but one, the humble woman 
who had dreamed, so long before, of the great light, 
just in the direction of this dwelling ! She saw the 
struggles of the sin-sick soul. But she was only 
the nurse for the body. Never left alone, regarded 
as a weak enthusiast, she could not speak to the 
proud and sick lady, of the Saviour. What ailed 
her ? The pastor came, once and again. She did 
not weep ; yet she seemed in anguish ? " Where 
is your pain ?" 

" Oh, it is my heart ; I have crucified my Sa- 
viour ! I have rejected Him who bought me with 
His blood. I must die in sin !" 

" But you wander, you are not such a guilty being. 
How have you sinned so much ? Surely your woes 
will cancel such sins as your pure life allowed." 

" Oh, my heart is full of pride and selfishness. I 
have lived without God." 

" Surely, my dear G , you are wrong — calm 

yourself. You have always respected religion, you 



160 



HOME. 



have sincerely admired the benevolence and good- 
ness of God in all his works and ways. You have 
never wilfully broken his laws. He will not be a 
severe Judge." 

" Oh yes, I have never loved his holiness. I loved 
pleasure, and was dead while I lived. God was 
afar off, and Christ had no comeliness to my soul. 
I saw no need of a dying Saviour ; and now his 
frown is upon my soul ! Oh pray that my sins 
may be forgiven, or I must perish." 

" Surely you do not fear that you are to be cast 
into an eternal hell, for any sin you have commit- 
ted!" 

" Oh, I have sinned. My sins are great. How 
shall I wash away my sins ? It is not that I fear 
wrath, but because I deserve it, that I cry for relief. 
Oh, what shall I do ?" 

It was a new case for the pastor. He had heard 
of such things, among the benighted " orthodox," 
but he regarded it as weakness, or worse. In vain, 
day after day he tried to calm her spirit. It would 
not rest. The agitated mind prostrated the vigor 
of the body. The pulses quickened, and beat with 
the violence of a fever. The clear, powerful intel- 
lect dwelt always on the great evil of sin, a sinful 
heart, in which the love of pleasure reigned, where 
the love of Christ should have ruled alone. The 



HOME. 



161 



pastor knew no remedy for her disease ; he was 
not sure but it was insanity. So the physician was 
sent for. He, two, was a member, and, in fact, if 
not by formal choice, for many years an officer of 
the church. He had heard cries for mercy by the 
couch of the dying sinner. But here was a new 
case for him. Here was one of spotless life, amia- 
ble temper, well educated, groaning in anguish over 
the sins of the heart ! It was a new case. Then 
he felt the pulse, and the brow that burned like 
fire. She had a fever ! There was danger of in- 
flammation of the brain ! He ordered her an emet- 
ic, and some powders every two hours ! They 
were faithfully given. Poor medicine to purge 
away the burden of sin from the guilty conscience ! 

That night the widow remembered the torn let- 
ter. " Oh run Mrs. M., and bring me a letter you 
will find in the parlor. Oh, I was wicked to tear 
it." It was brought, — read again with tears. Now, 
it was no longer cruel. It told of Christ, just such 
a Saviour, just such a comforter, just such a Phy- 
sician as her soul needed. She turned to the pious 
nurse. " Is there any hope that Christ will receive 
one so guilty as I am ? Oh ? I have been blind to all 
his dying love !" 

" He came to seek and to save that which was 
lost " not to call the righteous, but sinners to 
14 # 



162 HOME. 

repentance. 5 ' "Though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be white as wool." " The blood of 
Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." So answered 
the poor widow, in the words of holy writ, while 
the rich widow, poor in her riches, bowed with all 
her soul to the majesty of the simple word of God. 
Now the glory of the cross was revealed to her ; 
and she cried out, ■ Oh. I have found Him ; I have 
found my Saviour : help me to praise Him ! Oh, 
what a glorious, holy, kind, gracious Lord he is !" 

Then her sweet voice burst out into a song of 
praise, in the words so often sung without thought, 

" Xow to the Lamb that once was slain . 
Be endless honors given." 

Before the stanza was ended, her voice chocked. 
But it was with rapture ! She " made melody in 
her heart unto the Lord." 

The morning dawned sweetly. It was the Sab- 
bath. The fever of the pulse was gone. The 
calmness of holy joy was in the soul, and the clear 
intellect saw the glory of the Invisible God reveal- 
ed in his Son. It was a day of joy and praise. 
Such a Sabbath had not been known in that old 
mansion for half a century. The very air seemed 
vocal with praise. 

The news soon spread far and wide. The pas- 



HOME. 



163 



tor came, and found a gentle, joyous spirit, meek 
and mild, but fervent in exhorting him, too, to seek 
that Saviour she had found. The physician was 
pointed to a remedy for sin he had never known. 
Friends were warned, counselled, entreated, prayed 
for. Some doubted, some mocked, some listened. 
But the pious rejoiced and thanked God that the 
" great light" shone ! The poor widow said the 
" little lights" would soon appear ! And they did ! 
I cannot follow the after life ; the praying wife and 
mother, the leader of the social circle for worship, 
the teacher of the Sabbath school, the Bible class ; 
the faithful guide to youthful relatives, the reprover 
of sin and unbelief in the matured. Life closed 
too soon. But not till many precious fruits followed 
that strange sickness, and the remedies of the phy- 
sicians ! There was no insanity here ; nothing to 
destroy the force of the example. Here was wealth, 
education, literary tastes, fashion, loveliness, all con- 
secrated to Christ, with views of truth so clear, 
with humility so marked, with experience so rich, 
that none who were willing to see could doubt it 
was the work of God, It carried the gospel, in its 
living power, again, into the centre of the most re- 
fined circle of Home and its vicinage. So the 
widow's God became her friend. Her comforter 
was her Saviour. And henceforth, in the eyes of 



164 HOME. 

all, she lived for him. There were errors, foibles, 
weaknesses; but "the life of faith on the Son of 
God," was not concealed by them. The brother re- 
joiced. The angels rejoiced. And doth not the 
Lord rejoice over the "lost, found?" He " taketh 
them in his arms, and carrieth them in his bosom." 
He has " loved them with an everlasting love." On 
his throne of glory his heart is in all their sorrow, 
and rejoices in all the bliss he bestows on them, m 
the fulness of his own love. And when they lay 
aside the body of clay, " his hand shall lead them 
in green pastures, and by the still waters ;" his voice 
shall teach them the "new song" which none can 
sing but his redeemed ones. There "his servants 
shall serve him," in holy, useful, blessed activity, 
forever. 



HOME. 



165 



CHAPTER XI. 1 

Old ties broken — The faithful pastor — Old George 
— The Bible Class — The vicious saved — Election justi- 
fied; the narrative — The strayed sheep looked up — 
The aged sinner saved — The poor-house — Sabbath 
schools — Laws of sanctification — Temperance — The 
last argument ; holy living. 

Hard was the struggle when the disciples at 
last withdrew from the places where our fathers had 
worshipped so long. The very graves around 
seemed to reproach them ! On that seat, the now gray 
headed man of fourscore, when a tiny boy had seen 

1 As the details of the preceding chapter are simple mat- 
ters of history, the reader may be interested to know some 
additional facts, inadvertently omitted by the author, serv- 
ing to connect the heroine of the last chapter with " the 
faithful pastor " of the following. He it is, who was sum- 
moned to her aid, when the advice of her accustomed 
spiritual guide and the prescriptions of her physician all 
proved unavailing. He it is, who with the " poor widow," 
stood by the bed-side of that agonized woman and talked 
to her of the good physician; told her of that bleeding and 
atoning Lamb, and urged her to believe and live. And 
when, at last, her " lips were filled with rejoicing," his voice 



166 



HOME. 



his silken haired great grand-father, as he worshipped 
" leaning on the top of his staff." Every beam of 
the old edifice had some sacred association. There 
were the friends of his childhood. With them he 
must part, for Christ's sake. The wife left the hus- 
band behind. The child did not always follow the 
parent. And when, for the last time, the aged 
walked slowly away from that house, after linger- 
ing in its aisles, on its door-stone, by the hill-side, 
many a sad look was cast back, and the head bow- 
ed down, the tear trickled over faces not often seen 
so moistened by the tears of sorrow. But Christ 
required it. The faith of the gospel was no longer 
preached ; the Lord had given them numbers and 
a heart to maintain his worship in its purity; and 
all these old and tender associations must be brok- 
en up. 

The formation of churches composed of living 
members of the body of Christ, was soon followed 
by the settlement of faithful pastors. Then, in suc- 

mingled with hers in ascriptions of praise. It was their 
>/song together, but not then last, as the domestic altar 
and the secret chamber of the wife and husband will at- 
test. 

The indulgent reader will readily pardon the author tor 
the above omission, when told that the entire manuscript 
of this book was written in the eleven days which intervened 
between Mr. Torrey's conviction and sentence.—PuB. 



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167 



cession, all the varied means of growth in know- 
ledge and grace were enjoyed, and the work of re- 
novation was more rapidly onward. 

True, the bitter feelings connected with the sep- 
arations closed, for a time, some minds against the 
truth. It spoke so loudly to men of die fallen state 
of the old churches, that many, whose hearts were 
ruled, partly by pride, and partly by old associa- 
tions, were grieved and angry. So there were re- 
proaches, curses, tears. The path of duty is not al- 
ways a pleasant one. Peace does not always follow 
the steps that the wisdom of the just may indicate. 

Still, as time run on, such feelings passed away. 
Many wished to hear the new pastors. If their 
doctrines were not always understood, or, if under- 
stood, not loved, still there was no doubt about their 
holy living. They had faults, weaknesses, foibles, 
like other men. But their zeal, humility, faith and 
love for the soul were not hid. 

The idea of the faithful pastor was revived once 
more. One was a man of polished manners. He 
was a ripe scholar, an agreeable companion. His 
preaching was instructive, his doctrine ever main- 
tained by reference to the Bible alone. There was 
a directness and plainness in his addresses to the 
conscience, that it was not easy to avoid. It was 
his rule, that no man should ever be able to say, 



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"I have seen the pastor, and he never spoke to me 
of the soul and the Saviour." It was not always 
wise ; but the honest fidelity with which he acted 
on it, commanded respect. " The man must be in 
earnest," it was said. It was a new thing, too. 
Our old pastors were not superior to him in talent, 
learning or refinement. But they never talked so to 
all men, and to the very children, of sin, death, and 
Christ the Lamb of God. 

There was a despised couple, a woman of feeble 
powers, and the man commonly known as old 
George. Perhaps, in past days, rum had done its 
work in destroying the manhood of the man. Then 
they were poor ; objects of charity, just kept out of 
the alms-house. Their little old dwelling, with its 
one room and a garret, was the meanest hovel in 
all the parish. True, it was very neat. The worn 
out floor was clean and nicely sanded. In summer 
the fire-place was always filled with pine boughs, 
and wreaths of winter-green and wild flowers were 
thrown over the little looking-glass and mantle- 
piece. The mind was feeble, but the love of God's 
beautiful things was not lost. They could not say 
it, but they saw his smiles in their flowers and fo- 
liage. 

Among the very first to frequent the new place 
of worship was this humble couple. There was 



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169 



many a patch, not always of uniform color, in the 
old garments. But they were decent, Modestly, 
they took the " lowest seat" But they were not de- 
spised, there, as the worldly church despised them. 
Nor did the Holy One refuse to be called their Fa- 
ther. So " this poor man cried, and the Lord heard 
him," and filled his bosom and that of his meek 
companion with the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy 
and peace. 

The pastor rejoiced to see how " God chose the 
weak things of the world to confound the mighty.'' 
Their little hut was made the place of stated pray- 
er, and evening preaching. Many an excellent ser- 
mon was preached there. People said it was not 
" respectable," and wondered the pastor could find 
no better place ; and when he formed a Bible Class 
there, too, and made it so interesting that the chil- 
dren of our first families flocked to that poor house 
even in stormy nights, the thing became even more 
strange. The invitation to meet in more " decent" 
places was given ; but the pastor saw that God hon- 
ored the poor hut, and he would do what the Lord 
had done. So the Bible Class generally met in the 
little room, from year to year. How full of humble, 
quiet happiness that poor man and his wife were, 
on those days ! Had God, in very deed so honor- 
ed their low estate ? Did the rich, the proud, the 
15 



170 HOME. 

wise come to their old dwelling to learn the way of 
life ? How could they thank God enough, for such 
honor ! In that little room a family altar was built. 
There was none in the houses of the rich, 
for a mile around. In that little garret was a 
place for constant secret prayer. Did the rich love 
to pray to " Our Father who seeth in secret ?" So 
they honored God, and he honored them, and made 
their little hut a bethel. Souls were born there. 
And now, when a few years only have passed 
away, every regular member of the Bible Class, 
save one or two, is a child of God ! Some have al- 
ready entered into their rest. Some live, and their 
light shines. 

Three of the group are pastor's wives; one is a 
professor in a theological school, two more are pre- 
paring to preach the gospel to the lost. When the 
world is burned up, if that little hovel does 
not sooner decay, many will wish to have it spared ! 
If the arts of design are cultivated in a future world, 
as I doubt not they will be— many a pencil dipped 
iu light will depict that old cottage, and its humble 
inmates. 

As religion honored the weak, so it began to re- 
form the profligate. In two instances, men of the 
most depraved morals, brutal in ignorance, drunken, 
profane, lewd, " to every good work reprobate," 



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171 



were reclaimed, and became striking proofs of the 
power of grace. Everybody admitted that they 
"needed to be bora again." But it struck some, 
very forcibly, that no such results had followed the 
popular preaching, for a long time. Morality had 
been promoted by it, no doubt. But the conversion 
of a thoroughly bad man into one noted for purity, 
meekness and self-denial, was a new thing in Home. 
It seemed to some that Christ had indeed come to 
call sinners to repentance. In one instance the 
effect was striking. A man of strong mind, well 
acquainted with the truths of the gospel, had long 
been resisting the voice of love. His reasoning in- 
tellect was thoroughly convinced that the doctrine 
of election was true ; a part of God's government, 
not merely revealed in the Bible, but written all 
over the history of man and angels. And he did 
not deny the right of the wise, holy, and just God 
to decide the destiny of all his creatures. 

But the heart refused to submit to the authority 
that the conscience and mind admitted to be right. 
The struggle was severe. One night, a young rela- 
tive, who had found Christ in a distant city, had 
been speaking, in a little upper room, of the Saviour 
he had found. The sinful heart was touched, but 
the old struggle revived again. 

" Why," said the sinner, " why am I left ? I have 



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often felt that it was a great hardship that others 
were taken and I was left. There are this and that 

man naming the converts — who have always lived 

bad lives, profligate, swearers, despising everything 
that is good. Still they are converted. I have al- 
ways been moral, respected religion, and tried to 
do right towards others ; but there's no mercy, no 
pardon for my sinful heart." The strong man's 
frame shook with the anguish of his mind. 

" Perhaps," it was said, " these guilty men will 
be better examples than you, more needed, here, to 
show the power of grace. And, then, are you quite 
sure that a mother's prayers and holy life have not 
kept you from grosser depravity than these men show- 
ed ? Are you sure your heart is really any better ? 
You admit that you are a sinner ?" " Oh yes, I feel 
that ; that is all my trouble. I may be as guilty as 
they, in heart ; but why are they preferred to me ?" 

" I am not God, to answer to his motives. But 
if you are guilty, is he under any obligation to have 
mercy on you ?" 

" No, I know he is not bound to save me." 
" Then, look at your heart. Even now, it rebels 
against the principles of his government that you 
admit to be founded in his own wisdom, power and 
justice. With such a heart, is it not just and right 
that God should leave you to perish ?" 



I 



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173 



The conscience of the sinner answered " yes." 
"Then, if you do perish, the justice of God will be 
known in it. God has seen your sinful heart, been 
very gracious to you, long-suffering has marked all 
his dealings with you ; blessings are multiplied to 
win your gratitude ; Christ is as freely offered to 
you, as to any other man. And if, after all, you 
are a " vessel of wrath," will not God be justified, 
by your own character, in the eyes of all men ?" 

The sinner again assented in silence. " Now, it 
is not certain that you are to be lost. You are yet 
alive ; you see your guilt ; conscience is not dead- 
ened ; the Holy Spirit is evidently striving with you 
to lead you to Christ. And, the only way in which 
you, or we can know whether you are elected or 
not, will be by the result of the conflict between 
your heart and the Holy Spirit. Is it not so ? Then, 
suppose you grieve the Holy Spirit to depart from 
you. Will that change one fact in the Divine Gov- 
ernment ? It may settle the question that you per- 
ish ; but your admitted sins will justify God, no 
matter what his reasons may be for sparing others 
as guilty as you. The very fact of your election is 
unknown to you or others. And it is in vain to ask 
the reasons of a fact, when the fact itself is beyond 
our knowledge." 

" But what shall I do, then ?" 

15* • 



174 



HOME. 



" That is just the point. Submit to the govern- 
ment of God. It must be founded in perfect wis- 
dom, justice and goodness, whether you see all 
God's motives and reasons for action, or not. Let 
me ask you : which would be the most guilty of the 
two, in refusing submission ; these debased, igno- 
rant men, or you, with your clear views of God's 
character and will ? Which would God be more 
honored in sparing, in view of the degrees of light 
you enjoy ? And if spared, are you any ways sure 
that your whole life, here and hereafter, will be as 
useful to the kingdom of Christ as theirs ?" 

He admitted there might be very good reasons, be- 
sides his own guilt, why others should be saved in pre- 
ference to him — and this is the doctrine of election, 
the whole of it : viz. — * That there are reasons, aside 
from the obligations of justice to the moral character of 
the subjects of Divine government, why one man is 
made a subject of Divine mercy, and another is not." 
Is it not according to common sense, as well as the 
Bible ? 

. « Then what is your plain duty ? Are you wiser 
than God, that you shall undertake to judge of his 
decisions, before you know what they are, or on 
what they are based ? Enough for you to know 
that he has provided for your pardon, by the blood 
of his Son ; and that he offers you mercy if you will 



HOME. J 75 

submit to have him reign over you. Will you do 
so ?" 

So the proud heart was broken, and the sinner 
knelt, and confessed his guilty rebellion, and rose 
up "justified the love of God filling his heart. 
No longer he complains that others are saved ; he 
only wonders why he was spared ; why frowning 
justice consented to smile on his soul, and mercy 
stooped to heal his sinful heart. And, in every 
form of trial and suffering, since that hour, he has 
proved that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was 
sufficient for him. 

The faithful pastor did not omit to preach in the 
neglected districts, where piety had been almost for- 
gotten. There, indeed, the gospel was welcomed. 
The young, especially, crowded the school-houses 
and dwellings to hear the words of life. Some, too, 
came to mock. Some of the older sinners were 
angry at being disturbed in their sins. Repent; 
not they ! Keep the Sabbath ? Why, they did'nt 
work much, and as for avoiding other modes of 
desecrating it, that was an " orthodox" affair. But 
still, in those districts where the people had so en- 
tirely forgotten the public worship of God, there 
was very little error prevalent, the heart did not 
seem so indurated by sin. One family after an- 
other, who had listened to the evening sermon in the 



176 



HOME. 



school-room, began to frequent the house of wor- 
ship. A visible improvement in morals, intelligence, 
good manners, and taste in dress appeared, even 
where the heart was not affected. In a few years, 
these neglected, forgotten districts were more fully 
instructed in the truths of the gospel than, perhaps, 
any other part of Home. On those who sat in 
darkness, great light shone. There was one con- 
version, early in the revival of pure faith in Home, 
that always impressed me very much. It was that 
of an aged sinner. 

He was a soldier, both in the old French war, 
and in the Revolution. He had a mind of far more 
than ordinary power ; his reasoning faculties were 
especially strong. No disguises of sophistry could 
blind his powers of analysis. I believe he always 
derided, as weak, the arguments men urged against 
the doctrines of the Pilgrims. Not that he cared 
for religion ; not he ! In the army he became in- 
temperate and infidel in his views, or rather in his 
feelings more properly. He never would hear any 
one assail the truth without reply ! He had a frame 
of iron. No severity of toil seemed to shake it. 
In old age he had the strength of early manhood. 
But he lived in sin. In other days, his life was a 
standing reproach to the gospel. For who so con- 
stantly and powerfully defended the doctrines of the 



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177 



Bible, as this gray headed sinner ! Men said that 
they preferred a better life with a shorter creed ! 
They did not so much consider that his life was at 
war with his theory. At last, when nearly fourscore 
years old, the Holy Spirit made the truths his lips 
had always defended, a sword to slay the sins of 
his heart. The gray head became a crown of glory, 
because it was found in the way of righteousness. 
Storm or sunshine, his venerable form was always 
in the pulpit, by the side of the minister, though 
he lived remote from the meeting. The last time 
I saw him was at his own fireside. He had lived 
to see almost one hundred years. Many around 
him had risen up to bless him for his prayers, his 
warnings, his holy living. He spoke with an old 
soldier's ardor of the struggles of our fathers in the 
days of peril ; but his eyes lighted up with rapture 
when the Captain of salvation was named. " Yes, 
I shall soon see him in his glory ! I am waiting to 
be called home. And then I shall no longer be 
fettered with this dying body ; for I know I shall be 
like Him." 

The people of Home were ever humane to the 
poor. It was one of the first towns in the country 
to provide well, handsomely, for their comfort. But 
the soul was forgotten, till the faithful pastor set the 
example of preaching in the poor-house. There, 



!78 H O 31 E . 

too, fruits of his fidelity were found. Thus, in all 
Home, the poor, once more, had the gospel preach- 
ed to them. If the gospel was hidden from any 
class, as such, it was from the rich. For, perhaps 
at no period did the selfish, grasping spirit of our 
rich men become so manifest, and so hard to be 
borne by its victims, as after the restoration of the 
pure faith was begun. They hardened themselves 
in sin, and sometimes took no little pains to draw 
others away from the faith. With what fiendish 
joy one of them once boasted of his success in 
" driving religion out of the head" of a young man 
who had been awakened, and seemed almost per- 
suaded to be a Christian! The young man after- 
wards became a profligate infidel, and for years 
was a despiser of all good, and especially of the 
work of the Holy Spirit. 

The spiritual pastors* at once gave their atten- 
tion to the instruction of the young. The Sabbath 
schools and Bible classes they formed in different 
parts of the town embraced not only the youth of 
their own churches, but many others, who had no 
religious instruction at home. The aged, too, soon 
began to join the classes ; the more readily, because 
the old country habit of staying at noon was still 

1 Referring to the Baptists and ]tfethodists r as well as 
the Congregationalists. 



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179 



common. I never felt deeper emotion than when 
standing before a Sabbath school class composed of 
eight persons over seventy years of age. All but 
one of them were old disciples. What could youth 
teach them of the love of Christ, or the experiences 
of the Christian life ? The teacher became the 
pupil. But the example was a blessed one. It 
taught all men to reverence the Bible, to see gray 
heads sitting down with little children, often their 
great grand-children, to study its sacred pages. 

The teachers of error began to be aware of the 
power the Sabbath school was gaining, for the gos- 
pel, over the minds of the young. Much as they 
derided Ellen C's school, years before, it now began 
to be found out, that if the young mind was so pure 
by nature, it would not continue so without appro- 
priate education. This drew some away from the 
influences of the gospel. But with hardly one ex- 
ception, all of the first generation of Sabbath schol- 
ars are now members of the churches. For some 
years, there were scarcely any others converted to 
Christ. I know not that many were converted by 
the direct agency of Sabbath school instruction. 
But they were prepared by it for an intelligent 
hearing of the gospel. So that it was the same 
thing, in the end. Give me a thorough, intelligent 
acquaintance with the doctrines of the Bible, in the 



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hearer, if you wish to have his soul subdued by the 
power of the cross. It is a mistake to suppose that 
such an acquintance with the truth hardens the 
heart. Nay, repeated awakenings, by the Holy 
Spirit, do not harden the heart, unless the power 
of grace is directly and wilfully resisted. It rather 
prepares the way for an easier conquest of the af- 
fections for Christ. Probably very little faithful 
teaching is unaccompanied by divine influence. 
It would be a sad task, indeed, to teach our chil- 
dren day by day, morning and evening, " here a 
little and there a little," if the necessary effect, by 
the laws of their nature, sinful as it may be, was to 
harden them, up to the hour of their conversion. 
My mind was first called to the fallacy of the pop- 
ular notion on this subject, by the reports of the 
Ceylon Mission. The substance of the repeated 
statements of Poor, Winslow, Scudder, and other 
spiritual men and clear observers, was, that those 
who had once been awakened, were the surest to 
be again the subjects of divine influence, and the 
most certain to become, after a time, the children 
of God. Much observation, since, has confirmed 
the view. While the renewal of the heart, in one 
respect, is the work of divine power, in a moment 
of time, still, every power of the soul, before and 
after that point, is gradually educated by the Holy 



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181 



Spirit, and trained to harmonious, holy action. 
This is the reason why those who are well trained 
for years, are more useful and well balanced disci- 
ples, than persons who have lived to adult years 
ignorant of the gospel. The soil is better fitted for 
the sower ; the harvest is richer. When will men 
learn that the power of the Holy Spirit is ever act- 
ing upon every human soul ? — that its sanctifying 
power is, in general, just in proportion to the amount 
of truth, adapted to the condition and wants of the 
individual mind! — that this is the philosophy of 
the direction to divide rightly the word of truth, 
giving to every man his portion in due season ? 
— that, in a word, the laws of sanctification are as 
fixed, as immutable, and may be as perfectly known 
as the principles of Chemistry or any other science ? 

I have much wished to see some profound rea- 
soning intellect, governed by holy affections, devote 
years of life to an analysis of Christian experience, as 
developed by the lives of all classes of men. The 
greatest source of error would be, that we have so 
imperfect a record of the errors and sins of any. 
Who would ever know that Payson had a fault, 
from his memoir ? Yet, if he had not sins many 
and obvious, his diary is only a new case of the 
morbid anatomy of diseased piety ? The biography 
that so conceals the nature of the sins of an emi- 
16 



182 



H OME. 



nent Christian is of little value, with reference to 
any real progress in divine life. The value of the 
lessons of the judgment day will very much depend 
on its perfect development of the sins of the holy, 
their struggles with temptation, and the modes in 
which the victory was secured. 

The temperance reform, like all other reforma- 
tions in morals, is no party or sectarian work. Yet 
it is true, beyond question, that those who loved 
the pure faith were its earliest, most ardent friends. 
For years, the pious who were not its friends were 
the rare exceptions. It was not so with other men. 
But in the end, all men are led to see the moral 
value of such reforms ; and a thousand motives, 
besides a regard to man's spiritual welfare may, nay 
ought to excite men to labor in them. For every 
right motive, whether it is drawn from the influence 
an act may exert on ourselves or others, our pre- 
sent good, or our salvation, should have its proper 
place. Only, let the love of Christ be the control- 
ling, governing principle of our life. Then we 
shall please him, while we benefit our fellow-men. 

There is a large class of men who do not judge 
of the truth or value of any religious doctrine by its 
effects on their sympathies, or its appeals to their 
reason. They may admit your arguments to be 
strong, your proofs decisive, your appeals eloquent. 



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183 



Still, they refuse to submit their own hearts to its 
claims. It is not from enmity to the gospel. They 
hate it no more than other sinners ; perhaps not so 
much. They treat it with respect. But they want 
to see its value tested by experience. As they see 
men made more pure, honest, meek, humble, be- 
nevolent, by its power, they yield themselves to its 
control. It is in vain you tell them that God has 
a rightful claim to their hearts, to-day. They may 
admit it. But if they see God manifest in the life 
of the disciple, and that life is holy, your argument 
has power. The class of cautious, ultra, prudent 
men, I believe are seldom won to Christ by any 
other power than that of the Christian life. And, 
on the introduction of the pure faith where it has 
been forgotten or is unknown, the influence of re- 
ligion on the temper, the passions, the social habits, 
the morals, and other more obvious acts of the 
Christian, will be far more carefully weighed, by 
this class of men, than the inward spirit. If the 
outer temple is fair and firm, they may venture 
within. The more sanguine, at once examine the 
very penetralia of the building. It is not easy to 
say which form the most useful Christians when 
they are converted. But their very nature makes 
the first more firm in purpose, though their power 
to win others by appeals to their affections is less. 



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It once tried me, very much, when I saw this cau- 
tious, steady, cool-headed class of men, in Home, 
so steadily, as it seemed, holding themselves aloof 
from the influences of the gospel. I set them down 
as hardened in their worldliness. It was only their 
natural temperament. When time enough had 
elapsed to argue with them by the power of holy 
living, they began, one after another, to yield them- 
selves to Christ. Holy families were needed, to 
develope the power of the gospel, in all the relations 
of life. God raised them up, and scattered them, 
as if on purpose, in every remote section of the 
town ; so that none might want the means, in their 
ordinary intercourse with men, of comparing the 
teachings of the spiritual faith with the lives of 
those who claimed to love it. The result was and 
is favorable to the truth. What preaching could 
not do for some, holy living and holy dying have 
done. Men have seen the truth 

' ; drawn out in living characters," 
and therefore they have said that they too would 
yield their best affections to its control. 



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185 



CHAPTER XII. 

The dead left alone — Satire, yet truth — Religion imitated 
— Spirit without knowledge — Preaching of Christ, but 
not preaching Christ — The wild flower — Piety in chil- 
dren — Benevolence — Paid pastors no "hirelings." 

When the godly withdraw from a corrupt church, 
the first effect upon the old body is evil. It leaves 
the corrupt to themselves. They have none, or very 
little, of the principle of life remaining. "The 
blind lead the blind, and both fall into the ditch." 
It should induce caution. We may decide rashly 
to withdraw from the corrupt body, before all hope 
of renewed life is really gone. And while we are 
permitted, even with much suffering, to labor within 
the body to revive it, it is seldom wise to withdraw. 
When once the pious have separated, it requires 
time and many forms of influence to give, from 
without, the impulse to reform within the body. 
But it can be done. Faith and perseverance build 
the city, or destroy it. 

No more severe or just estimate of the spiritual 
condition of the decayed church, when the pious 
16* 



186 



HOME. 



have departed was ever drawn, than in a letter that 
a fallen minister addressed to one of the churches 
of Home, after the death of their pastor. It was to 
this effect : 

" Dear Friends. — I warmly sympathize with you 
in view of the great loss you have sustained in the 
removal of your pastor to another, and, I trust, a 
better world. I feel for the church, and would be 
glad to do anything in my power for its welfare. 
I will very gladly come and preach for you, at a 
cheap rate, till you have time to look about you for 
another shepherd. And I am not at all particular 
what doctrines I preach ; be it Unitarianism, Univer- 
salism or Orthodoxy. I will conform to the wishes 
you may express on the subject, being always will- 
ing to give satisfaction to my employers, and espe- 
cially to benefit those in whom I naturally feel so 
deep an interest, as I do in the people of Home. 
Let me hear soon, and believe me, I am as you are, 
and you are as I am. ^ • ^ • 

The pious are stable in their opinions, because 
their doctrinal views enter deeply into their Chris- 
tian experience. But when the truth is lost, the 
mind of man is often like the waves of the sea. 
There is very little defmiteness of ideas or firmness 
of belief on religious topics. There is a marked 



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187 



disposition, always, to substitute " sincerity" or " lib- 
erality or some other equivocal virtue, for true 
holiness ; and amiable manners and feelings, for the 
love of Christ. The people, in general, were " not 
particular about doctrines," unless the majority 
might be averse to the truth. A few desired to 
hear the faith of the fathers once more. One hum- 
ble man spoke of the need of a pious pastor. The 
most, wanted the zeal and efficiency of true reli- 
gion, without the doctrines that gave them birth. 
In a word, the gospel had so far impressed all 
minds, that a conviction that some important change 
in their condition was needed, was universal. Some 
preferred to adopt a newer system of error. Others 
preferred to attempt an imitation of the religious 
life, without the principles on which it should have 
been founded. 

The Sabbath school, it was very easy to copy, in 
form, though it was not so easy to find men willing 
to pray at the opening of its session, if the pastor 
was not there. 

The social prayer-meeting was far more difficult 
to copy. Men were not in the habit of praying. 
They had no great idea of the power or utility of 
prayer ; and their hearts did not love it. So the 
meeting became a social gathering, where ladies 
brought their knitting, and fruits and jellies were 



188 



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served up. Still, the opening prayer, and the hour 
spent in conversation respecting Bible truths, were 
not without benefit. The teaching here, and in the 
Sabbath school, might be full of error ; but there 
could hardly fail to be much truth also. And when 
men meet together for the very purpose of studying 
the Bible, with reference to its practical influence 
over their own hearts and lives, it cannot fail to 
have a decided tendency to sanctify them, or to 
prepare them to be sanctified. When the Bible is 
familiarly studied, not all the daring sophistries of 
the false teacher can divest the mind of the impres- 
sions which its plain statements of the truths of 
redemption will make. Family worship, in a few 
instances, was re-established, by the aid of forms of 
prayer. But in many, the use of these forms as 
read, became the substitute of secret prayer. 

The influence from without is felt in various 
forms. Some, while on visits to friends abroad, be- 
come truly converted to Christ. Holy affections 
are kindled in their hearts. And, to the extent to 
which there is time to mature their experience as 
Christians, their intellectual views of the gospel be- 
come correct. Returning, however, under the old 
influences before they have time even fully to under- 
stand the nature of their new emotion, listening 
again to the teachings of error, they make slow pro- 



HOME. 



189 



gress in the intellectual knowledge of the gospel. 
But their zeal, their spirituality, their love, the 
sense of guilt and the need of a holy nature remain. 
These fail not to make an impression for good on 
others. Not a few, too, are thus converted, by the 
occasional hearing of the word, or by reading, at 
home. Like the other class, their imperfect know- 
ledge hinders their progress in divine life ; still life 
exists. They cease to oppose the gospel. They 
are zealous for its reforming influence and agencies. 
They are benevolent in their lives. In many a 
church where error is preached, praying circles of 
true children of God have thus been formed. They 
are found in every stage of progress. One, by heart- 
felt experience has learned the value of one, an- 
other of five, another of ten important ideas, never, 
or seldom, heard in the pulpit. They are somewhat 
like a blind man feeling his way cautiously in the 
dark. Their progress is slow, but their steps firm. 
It is progress. 

Some persons of this class have entered the min- 
istry, in such churches. Their serious, pungent 
preaching, has been followed by real revivals of re- 
ligion, of true religion ; imperfect in its views, de- 
fective in its experiences, but still bearing the im- 
press of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the truth not 
seen by the mind, cannot be employed by the Spirit 



190 



HOME. 



to sanctify the heart. But life once begun, the 
Lord of life will carry on His gracious work to its 
consummation, in the world of glory. 

Such instances, of a recent date, are not wanting 
in the churches of Home. May God multiply them 
a hundred fold ! 

In the attempt to revive the spirit of piety with- 
out its principles, many of the richest treasures of 
Christian faith in our language, have been widely 
circulated in Home, and elsewhere. The practical 
works of Flavel, Baxter, Bunyan, Edwards, the 
Abbotts, and a score more, full of spiritual and sav- 
ing truth, not stated in offensive logical forms, but 
in its relation to the affections of sinful and holy 
hearts, cannot be read without saving benefit to 
many. "Circulate these volumes," I once said to a 
deal' friend, " and we shall soon agree in our views 
of Christ and his gospel." 

"If the result follows such means, I shall heartily 
rejoice in it," was the reply. The work is begun 1 
How often have I mourned over the defective 
preaching of the truths of salvation ! The great de- 
fect is the logical forms by which the truth is taken 
out of its relations to human character and experi- 
ence. No matter about the logic of the doctrine of 
election? The important thing is to induce sub- 
mission to the wiM of God. That will is the will of 



HOME. 



191 



a holy, just, gracious God. His attributes give him 
the right to control us, and fit him to do it. Hence 
the duty of cordial submission to his government. 
But to fight over the logical battle respecting the 
relations of God's mind, will, and decisions to our 
theoretical freedom, is of little avail to the mass of 
minds. In logic, the masses will reject your truth. 
Preach it w T ith single reference to faith, submission 
and humility, and they will love it. 

So, what matters it that you have ten thousand 
volumes of logical proof that Christ is God ? and 
as many more that he is Man ? Both are true ; but 
neither of them is the Bible doctrine of Christ. It 
is the God manifested ; the love, mercy, wisdom and 
power of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, 
that shall " draw all men unto him." I do not mean 
to say that the facts are of no importance. But a 
single fact will show my meaning clearly. I have 
listened, perhaps, to 200 sermons on the Deity of 
Christ. None of them, save one, was preached with 
primary and direct reference to Christian experience ! 
I care not, as a dying sinner, for the fact that my 
Saviour is God ; unless you show me the glory of 
God, shining in his face. Show me the attributes 
of his character, and my heart leaps forth to em- 
brace him, A few " Revival Preachers," so called, 
such as Burchard and Finney, have understood this, 



\ 



192 HOME. 

and their most effective sermons have often been, 
what I term practical sermons on the Deity of Christ. 
So of other gospel doctrines. Preach them as they 
relate to the hopes, fears, struggles, doubts, tempta- 
tions, trials, joys, triumphs of the Christian life on 
earth and in heaven ; and they become the power 
of God unto salvation. Alas, how many might be 
obliged to lay aside their preaching of Christian 
experience, because that to do justice to such a 
theme, one must know more of it ! Prove by texts 
and logic, the doctrine of total depravity ; and I hate 
it ! But point out the daily proofs of pride, selfish- 
ness, vanity, unbelief, in the heart and life, and I 
« abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." For 
my own common sense teaches me that such cor- 
rupt fruit cannot spring from a good tree. 

In the sands of the desert, sweet wild flowers 
sometimes bloom in beauty. There was one exam- 
ple of early piety in Home, after the awakening 
commenced in individual minds, that was never ac- 
counted for by any reference to external teaching. 
There was no adult member of the family, or its 
connections, that professed, in theory or practice, to 
be born of the Spirit ; none who believed such a 
doctrine. They were rigidly moral, kind, social. 
In one respect, the family was a model. Without 
much resort to the rod, the children, from infancy, 



HOME. 



193 



were trained to instant obedience to their parents. 
I never knew more prompt and cheerful obedience. 
This made the family circle an affectionate one. 
But it was worldly. Prayer was never heard 
there. It was the youngest son. He was a lovely 
boy ; he was beautiful ! His soft flaxen hair curled 
in ringlets on his neck. His slight form was round- 
ed, and elastic. Every motion was graceful. His 
blue eye was full of mirth. I am not aware that he 
was intelligent, beyond his years ; but his gentle- 
ness, modesty, wit and affectionate temper, made 
him loved by all. I never loved a companion of my 
youth as I loved him. Before he was eight years 
old, he was cut down, as the tender grass. In the 
intervals of suffering, he told his weeping friends 
what delight he had taken in prayer, and in the 
Word of God, for months before. He was sure he 
should go to that Saviour he loved ; and whose glo- 
ry as a Saviour from sin, had been revealed to his 
heart. He bade them shed no tears for him, but 
prepare to follow him up to the throne of the Lamb. 
It was strange, some said, to hear such a mere 
child talk so ! So it was, in Home. He had been 
taught by the Holy Spirit, while none knew the 
emotions of his young heart, and fitted to be thus 
early transplanted to the garden of God. 

Another instance, at a later period, was more 
17 



194 HOME. 

readily accounted for. A bright boy, not much 
older, was often loitering around the doors at the 
meetings in the hut of old George. His parents 
would not suffer him to enter. Now and then he 
crept into a corner at an evening lecture. He was 
a passionate boy, full of pride, yet with a warm 
heart. None ever spoke to him of Christ, m the 
fraternal dwelling. But he learned enough of the 
way of Life, while loitering around the hut, to be led 
by the Spirit to walk in it. In a few months his 
young mind seemed to grasp the great truths of 
the gospel with a man's vigor. What joy he found 
in communion with his Saviour ! He, too, was cut 
down in an hour. The faithful reproofs of an and 
error, given on his dying pillow, roused more than 
one slumbering conscience from a long night of sin. 
But God took him up to his home. 

The spectacle of youthful piety is not now rare 
in Home. And men see, in these early conversions 
to Christ, a lesson on the depravity of their own 
hearts, that no logic, no sophistry can shake. When 
infancy praises God, the aged sinner has no shelter, 
no excuse for his life of sin. 

I shall never forget a scene in which one of these 
little ones that believed in Christ, was an actor. 

There was an old man, more than sixty years at 
age, gray-headed, his body bent down with the 



HOME. 



195 



weakness that sin had caused. For he had lived a 
guilty, a criminal life. Trained in the knowledge 
of the gospel, he had thrown away his early faith, 
sold his Bible for rum, and avowed himself an un- 
believer, — an atheist. His bad heart was seared as 
with a hot iron, by his long career of iniquity. He 
wandered away from his home to a distant place, 
that he might be far away from any that knew him. 
He wanted to sin without reproof ; and that was diffi- 
cult, in the Christian village where he was born 
and nurtured. His own pious partner reproved 
him by her prayers and tears, if not by words. So 
he left his home and became a wanderer, and a com- 
panion of the vile. 

One Sabbath day he stood at the door of a grog- 
shop. He had no money, and the liquor-seller re- 
fused to supply his demands for the poison. He 
burst into a torrent of oaths. 

The little one, on his way to the Sabbath school, 
passed by, and heard the blasphemer. Quietly 
walking up to him, he put his soft hand in that of 
the aged sinner, and said, with tears, " Please, Sir, 
do not sin so, against my Saviour !" The sinner 
was melted in a moment. " What," said he, " shall 
my gray hairs be reproved by this babe ?" That 
day found him in the house of God ; that night 
found him rejoicing in the forgiving mercy of his 



196 HOME. 

Saviour. Another day, he was far on his way to 
his deserted home, to cheer his family with the 
news that " out of the mouth of a babe, God had 
perfected praise." The secret of the power of 
youthful piety is, that no one can doubt its entire 
sincerity — its singleness of aim. To assume feel- 
ings men do not possess, and act in character with 
such hypocrisy, requires more steadiness of pur- 
pose than children often possess. So that the im- 
pression that it is Gotfs work, can hardly be resisted. 
And what heart can resist the simple pleadings of 
a child's love ! 

I hardly need to add, that in proportion as spirit- 
ual faith revived in Home, the spirit of benevolence 
towards all the perishing was shown also. Even in 
their days of poverty, the disciples learned never to 
send away empty those who called for a benefit, 
whether for the souls or bodies of men. Cove- 
tousness departs before the presence of the Sa- 
viour. And when the Lord of the Sabbath is hon- 
ored, the day of rest is saved ; the house of His 
praise is holy, and his worship fills the spirit with 
peace. 

One other illustration of the mode, in which God 
reached the lost, I must not omit. Those who are 
not under the influences of the gospel cannot be 
expected to prize them. And when, in addition to 



HOME. 197 

their lives of sin, there is a profound ignorance of 
the nature of the Christian faith, it is not strange 
that men are reluctant to pay, to support its minis- 
ters. There were multitudes in Home who felt 
thus. No wonder ; of what benefit had been the 
salaries paid to educated ministers ? They had 
been neglected, despised, forgotten. If they attend- 
ed on their preaching, it did not address itself to 
their conscious want as sinners. The parson mar- 
ried them and buried them, and that was all. The 
magistrate could do the first, just as well. And it 
was not to the parson's credit that he spoke a few 
words of consolation in the hour of woe, but cared 
nothing for their souls at other times. There was 
one district, in the heart of Home, where the entire 
population seemed to be given over to sin. Hard 
drinking, brawls, profaneness, Sabbath breaking, 
lewdness were fearfully rife. There was not one 
Christian within a mile, except an infirm, paralytic 
old woman, too far gone towards mental imbecility 
for usefulness. One or two, occasionally wandered 
to church, on a very pleasant Sabbath, to show a 
new bonnet, or to meet some one there for business 
purposes. Their hatred of an educated ministry 
was only equalled by their aversion to supporting 
one. When our spiritual pastors preached in the 
neighborhood, very few would come near, and no 
17* 



198 



HOME. 



access to their hearts seemed possible. The case 
was well nigh hopeless. 

There was dissension in one of the spiritual 
churches. It referred to matters of order and form, 
not essential to a living faith. Two or three with- 
drew and obtained the stated labors of one who 
accorded with them, to supply their spiritual wants. 
But they could not support him. They were poor ; 
he was poor. But he had an enlightened under- 
standing and a warm heart. The condition of this 
desolate neighborhood deeply impressed him. But 
what could he do ? They would not hear him. 
Like Paul, in a similar case, he determined to 
« catch them by guile." Accustomed to the labors 
of the farm, he hired a tenement, and a few acres 
of land, and became a farmer in the neighborhood. 
He " changed works" with them, suffered them to 
take the lead in conversation, listened patiently to 
their follies, avoided any attack on their ignorant 
prejudices ; but gently and humbly reproved their 
sins. The plain man who worked in their fields, 
as an hired laborer, and who asked no pay for 
preaching, they were willing to hear on the Sab- 
bath. Familiar with their daily habits and feelings, 
he wisely adapted his preaching to their wants. 
He won their attention, their respect, then love. 
In several instances the Holy Spirit sealed his 



HOME. 



199 



work by their conversion to Christ. Vice disap- 
peared, the grog-shop was closed, the Sabbath re- 
spected, the people flocked to the house of prayer. 
Those who cared little for the word spoken, often 
loved the music of warm hearts and cheerful voi- 
ces. The familiar talking over the lessons of truth, 
which he called the Bible class, giving them an 
equal chance to express their crude and often erro- 
neous ideas, won others still. Before a year passed 
away, people in other parts of Home began to won- 
der what had so changed this desolate spot. And 
some of our proudest opposers of the gospel be- 
gan to frequent the meetings. God was there ! 

When the gospel found a place in their hearts, 
gratitude for spiritual and social benefits received, 
led them to try to supply the temporal wants of 
their teacher. They began to see that all the time 
of one who had proved himself so true a friend to 
their souls, might profitably be spent in the same 
labors. So it was no longer a selfish " hireling" 
that they saw in the pastor, but one who laid them 
under weightier obligations than money could re- 
pay, by the good conferred on them. Then, if he 
was to be able to meet their growing thirst for 
knowledge, he must have time for thought and 
study, or he would cease to be their fit guide. So 
the reign of grace and common sense began to- 
gether. 



200 



H O M E . 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A century passed— Twilight— Logic of the heart— Spirit- 
ual discernment— The " set time to favor Zion" come— 
The revival— The wise need teaching. 

One hundred years had passed by; three gene- 
ratioDS of men had lived and died and gone to the 
judgment since the last general effusion of the 
Spirit of God to gather numbers at once into the 
kingdom of his Son. In that time, vital godliness 
had declined, and error usurped the place of truth, 
till the gospel had scarcely a name to live. Then, 
gradually the grace of God had brought salvation 
to one house after another, till hundreds once more 
loved the faith of the fathers, and worshipped their 
fathers' God. The gospel in its purity was again 
preached ; the long night of stupor broken up, and 
few, very few, remained so entirely unacquainted 
with the leading doctrines of the cross, that they 
could sin in ignorance of them. Among those who 
persisted in rejecting the gospel, there were very 
few who had not, often without being aware of it, 
imbibed some of its ideas. Religious knowledge 
had increased, all admitted. 



HOME. 



201 



The teachers of error no longer avoided the use 
of the words that expressed sound doctrine. They 
even talked and prayed for a " revival of religion," 
and began to mark more carefully a distinction be- 
tween the worldly moral man and the true disciple. 
No matter if the difference was not clearly defined ; 
still it was a great advance to admit that there was 
one ; and to have even teachers urge men to be- 
come Christians, and live holy lives, who had long 
been satisfied with a mere formal profession of faith 
and outward morality ; nay, had long been taught 
to believe that no change of heart was needed by 
any but the vicious. 

Their zeal for every form of social reformation 
became marked. Their labors to make men be- 
nevolent in life, if not very successful, still did some 
good. For the warm sympathies elicited, and the 
habits of right action formed, brought some minds 
under the control of the principles of holy living. 
The struggle to be less selfish, shows men that 
there is deeper depravity within them than they had 
been conscious of. They are led to pray for help, 
first, and then for mercy. The consciousness of 
guilt, the feeling that they do not deserve the good 
they receive, or the mercy they ask, leads them to 
ask in the name of Jesus. Their sense of depen- 
dence on him for peace of conscience gradually 



202 



HOME. 



makes him the object of worship, of adoring love. 
Then the glories of his divine character, as the 
revealed and revealing Deity are seen, and they be- 
come spiritual worshippers of " Him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and of the Lamb." The ideas of 
the reasoning intellect may or may not keep pace 
with this logic of the head. But some progress is 
secured always. The need of prayers becomes an 
admitted fact. The teaching of the Holy Spirit is 
sought, is found. So holy affections correct the 
faith, and correct, ideal faith purifies and gives pow- 
er to holy affections towards God and man. 

Another result of this twilight state is, that 
numbers are led to unite with the churches. The 
pastors become solemn in their preaching, arouse 
many consciences, and excite emotion in many 
hearts. Their intellectual views of truth are not 
clear or correct enough to lead most of these 
awakened persons, at once, to the Saviour. They 
have a sense of sin, more or less strong ; a feeling 
of then obligation to holy living, in the same pro- 
portion | and they pray for mercy ; they become 
active in such forms of doing good to men as are 
set before them as duty. This secures some degree 
of peace of mind. It is peace derived from reli- 
gious sources. It is new to them. The pastor bids 
them hope, believe, rejoice, and openly profess their 



HOME. 



203 



Christian faith. United with the church, they some- 
times continue to make progress, sometimes be- 
come dead. If the work of grace, or renewed and 
holy affections is really begun, there is progress in 
experience and in ideal views of divine truth. If 
there are no gracious affections ; if it has been 
merely the awakened conscience, checking, for a 
moment, the power of a selfish heart, the result is 
blindness and — what is called by a strange misno- 
mer — spiritual pride ! It is a satisfaction with our- 
selves, and a feeling of security, based on supposed 
attainments in divine life which have no reality. 
The pride of the heart is not subdued ; sin may be 
refined, but it reigns, still, in undiminished power. 
I know such " spiritual pride" may exist, at times, 
when the heart has really felt the power of divine 
grace ; but it is the habitual state of mind in the 
unconverted professor of religion, so long as he 
remains unconscious of his want of true piety. 
Would God, that none but the teachers of error 
were found in this state of twilight ! Do not many, 
who intellectually receive the truth, equally fail to 
mark the difference between the awakened and 
the converted ? Between the work of the con- 
science, and the effects of holy love ? The alarms 
and remorse of a guilty conscience may cease, and 
calm and peace follow, without the existence of any 



204 



H 0 Bf E . 



holy affections. How many, in that state, are en- 
couraged to hope they are Christians ! How many 
mistake the hopes and peace that they thus obtain, 
for those which arise in the pardoned man's bosom ! 
The rule of duty is this :— encourage no man to 
hope he is converted and forgiven, till the existence 
of holy affections appears to be morally certain. 
Men are ready enough to hope, to build on a false 
foundation, without prompting. But the more 
thoroughly they are tested, in the outset, the better 
for their stability, if they are Christians ; the better 
for them and for the church, if they are not. 

Without such skill to "discern between the 
righteous and the wicked," no soundness of creed 
or forms of worship will prevent the church from 
being filled up with worldly persons. The pastor 
should be, not merely converted, but a matured 
Christian. " Not a novice," because he is unfit for 
the duties of the calling. Zeal may abound, he 
may desire to do good, his heart may be right, but 
still he be very unfit for the work. I suppose none 
will doubt that our Saviour wasfikd to preach the 
gospel at ten years of age. He waited till he was 
thirty, before he began. It was not for want of ho- 
liness or knowledge, or power to read men's hearts. 
The example is worth the attention of those who 
think and say that " half of life Is wasted if a man 



HOME. 



205 



does not begin to preach till thirty." The example 
may not be binding, but is safe. 

" The set time to favor Zion," had come. 
Why ? Because the way of the Lord had been 
thoroughly prepared. The truth was known. Its 
power over the conscience was generally establish- 
ed. Its general obligations were no longer dispu- 
ted. The power of sympathy could now act on a 
multitude, at once. So that, when the Holy Spirit 
began to awaken a man, every external influence 
was no longer arrayed against his conversion. It 
was no more an effort to make flowers bloom in the 
desert ; it was to cultivate fruit in a garden. Holy 
living had settled the question, in all minds, of the 
power of the gospel to transform the human char- 
acter, and make it lovely, in every condition of life. 
The conflict was now, chiefly, the direct issue be- 
tween the admitted claims of Christ, and the love 
of sin in the heart. 

Now the God of our fathers remembered his 
gracious covenant ; and the prayers of many gen- 
erations came up before him, as sweet incense ; 
and he sent down his Holy Spirit in genial showers. 

There is sometimes a marked incident to desig- 
nate the visible commencement of such displays of 
grace. It may be a sudden death ; a new preach- 
er the conversion of an old man, or a child, or the 
18 



206 



HOME. 



death of a sinner. Here it was not so. The faith- 
ful pastors diligently pursued the round of labor, 
teaching the young, warning the old, comforting the 
afflicted, succoring the tempted. One day, with- 
out the least previous indication of change, as a 
pastor was at work in his garden, a young man ap- 
proached and desired to converse with him alone. 
He was intelligent, moral, acquainted with the truth, 
but full of high hopes of worldly honor. 

"Have you anything very particular to say? 
you see I am freeing my garden from its weeds." 
There had been no conversion for some time. The 
pastor expected an invitation to attend a wedding. 
But as he spoke, he glanced a second time at the 
young man's face, and saw his lips quiver, and his 
eyes red with weeping. Trembling himself with 
new emotions he said, * come into my study f and 
led the way. The young man's heart was full. 
He wanted only to know how he should find salva- 
tion from sin. They talked, they wept, they knelt, 
they prayed ; and the young man arose, and went 
down to his house justified; for the Saviour was 
revealed to him. 

The pastor returned to his garden ; but in vain 
he tried to pluck the weeds ; his heart was too full, 
* Is God, in very deed, in our midst, and I knew it 
not ?" 



HOME. 



207 



That night there was a meeting for prayer in a 
remote corner of the town. The pastor attended, 
and found every seat filled, every eye attentive, 
every face expressive of some unwonted emotion. 
His words of exhortation were answered by silent 
tears, from more than one who never before wept 
for sin. An old man, not a disciple, when the meet- 
ing was over, rose and asked that Christians would 
pray for him. He had long lived in sin, but now, 
he said, he knew not why, he felt a deep anxiety 
to learn if there was a way for him to be saved. 
Perhaps the pastor would be willing to preach there 
the next evening, if he would come down for him, 
in his waggon? The pastor joyfully assented. 
Some others sought to speak to him, and an hour 
was passed in imparting counsel to those who were 
more or less awakened. 

The pastor returned home, deeply humbled. It 
was not that he was conscious of any want of fidel- 
ity to his duties. But he had labored without much 
fruit. Others, too, had labored there before him, 
and called it a hard field, because so little visible 
fruit followed their toils. But now God had come. 
Others sowed, be was to shout the harvest home ! 

As he entered his dwelling, his wife remarked, 
" Who do you think has been here ? It is Doctor 
• , and he is deeply convinced of his sins. I 



208 



HOME. 



told him you would see him before you slept, if you 
were not too much exhausted. I hope you will go ; 
it is only nine. 

The house was a mile distant in another course. 
So here, in a single day, were proofs of the pres- 
ence of the Holy Spirit in these distant sec- 
tions of the town. A few days more showed that 
it was so everywhere. As God had scattered the 
earlier fruits of faith in all parts of the place, that 
the word of life might be held forth before all eyes; 
so now, in every part, the blessing followed. The 
greater number, however, were found in those dis- 
tricts where pastoral neglect, in other days, had left 
whole neighborhoods to perish without the gospel. 

In every place where the truth was preached, the 
following Sabbaths witnessed the presence of the 
Holy One. The means of instruction were multi- 
plied, to meet the wants of the people, but not so as 
to interfere with the discharge of the ordinary du- 
ties of life. Such a course is almost always wise. 
The object of the pastor is to make men something 
more and better than meeting-goers. They are to 
be every-day Christians. And a religious life begun 
with an attendance on meetings every day or night 
for three months, is not the most likely to prove a 
life of holy usefulness. Besides, such a course is 
quite as likely to rouse more feeling than thought, 



HOME. 



209 



and to result in the substitution of love for meetings, 
for the love of Christ. There is no universal rule, 
in such cases ; but the safest general one is, not to 
hinder the discharge of men's daily duties, any fur- 
ther than a regard to the state of individual minds 
makes it needful. And much observation has con- 
vinced me, that, with very few exceptions indeed, 
there is no gain in having awakened persons lay 
aside their ordinary avocations, any further than 
their own, irrepressible anguish may, at times, com- 
pel it. The storm is more impressive ; but, as a 
matter of taste, I prefer the gentle rain. It is quite 
as efficient in covering the fields with rich harvests. 

It is important, too, to avoid one frequent tenden- 
cy noticed in revivals : viz., a tendency to make re- 
ligion consist in emotions only. Thus many are 
filled with hopes and joys, without changing, in 
any material respect, the principles of their daily 
life. Their religion is for Sundays and holidays ; 
for special occasions, for sickness, for death. But 
their business, their commerce with mankind, their 
social life, are conducted on the same principles of 
worldly prudence and propriety as before, with lit- 
tle or no infusion of benevolence or self-denial. 
They pray according to Scripture, and " sell lum- 
ber," as they did before. The severing of religion 
from life, fills up our churches with unconverted per- 
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210 



HOME. 



sons, just as surely, and even more rapidly, than those 
errors that wrought such evil in the days of our fathers. 

The work of grace in Home went on, not with- 
out some excitement, but with little opposition, for 
many months. A few were converted who had be- 
fore this, had little knowledge of the truth. But the 
most of the converts were those who were already 
ripe for the harvest. Such of the Sabbath scholars 
as had not been already acquainted with Christ, 
were among the earliest to receive him. Then the 
steady attendants on worship, and then others, less 
constantly under the influences of grace, though 
still enough so, to show them their hearts were 
brought nigh to the blood that cleansed them from 
sin. There were more young men, than persons 
of any other class ; but every age supplied some 
who had become children of God. Lisping infancy 
sung God's praises, and gray hairs bowed before the 
Son of God. So, too, persons of every grade of in- 
tellect and every degree of knowledge, were united 
to the common Saviour by the same bonds of faith 
and love. Brotherly love, humility, charity abounded. 

Such scenes had long been unknown in Home. 
How did the hearts of a few rejoice ; a few of those 
who thirty years before had lived in the darkness 
that might be felt, without sympathy, without social 
prayer, without a faithful ministry, or any means of 



HOME. 



211 



grace, save such as the solitude of a worldly church 
may supply ! They read, they prayed, they wept 
alone ! And now God had given a great company 
the saving faith of the gospel ; and living churches 
walked in gospel order and purity. 

It is yet too soon to speak of the matured results 
of such a work. Its subjects are all living. The 
instruction of the young, the family altar, works of 
benevolence and charity, all the common duties of 
religion and life are faithfully performed. The first 
fruit is holy. The ripened fruit will be so. Still it 
is better to praise the dead than the living. Their 
account is sealed up ; their sins and trials are end- 
ed ; their reward is begun ; and their works follow 
them. Of these we can judge. The living may be 
even more holy; but they may also be the " sound- 
ing brass, or the tinkling symbal," a glittering show, 
or a pleasant sound. We should judge ourselves, 
rather than each other. Then shall we not be con- 
demned with the wicked. 

The work of grace had reached the limits of the 
circle of prepared minds. Then it ceased to draw 
new persons into its wave. Here were an hundred 
new and tender plants to be nurtured and matured 
for life and glory. Every individual mind needs 
watching, care, instruction adapted wisely to its 
wants. It is a work of infinite moment. Their use- 
fulness depends on it. If they are trained to holy 



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living, and the fruits of grace abound in them, very 
soon another, and perhaps a larger class of minds 
will be brought within the control of sympathy, and 
the laws of the mind and the grace of the Spirit, 
will unite in bringing many more sons and daugh- 
ters unto glory. In due season the laborers shall 
reap, if they faint not. 

One thing was worthy of remark. All men, 
when awakened, are like children, needing instruc- 
tion. No matter how well acquainted they may be 
with the truths of religion, they need sympathy and 
guidance as much as if they had never heard the 
way of life. They are to learn over again all the 
circle of divine truths, with reference to the emo- 
tions of the heart. Their precious familiarity with 
truth, makes it easy to learn, easy to guide them ; 
but a guide they need, and they are conscious of it 
It was remarkable to see how men of strong in- 
tellect and high standing, showed the honor they 
had secretly paid to eminent piety, when far from 
it themselves. When they were awakened, they 
did not always seek the counsel of the educated, or 
of the pastors. But they sent for the holy and 
humble, those whose life was evidently a life of 
faith. Their counsel, not always clothed in classic 
language, they received with the simplicity of little 
children. They wanted, not the logic of the strong 



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213 



mind, or the poetry and philosophy of religion, but 
its simple elements, such as an humble heart must 
know, and which, most surely, resulted from the 
teaching of the Spirit. This was especially noticed 
in some literary persons who had been willing vo- 
taries of error. They seemed more anxious to avoid 
a second deception, than even to be saved ! Fer- 
vent piety, a heart that had known sin and the 
Saviour, and a mind honest to utter its convictions, 
were what they sought. Their choice of a coun- 
sellor showed how well they had marked the pow- 
er of the gospel, at a time when they denied its 
truths. Convinced of sin, their intellectual errors 
had no power over them. " Don't argue with me," 
said one, " about the atonement. I can out argue 
you. But I find I am a lost sinner, and need par- 
don. How shall I obtain it ?" When the mind is 
in such a state, it is an easy task to point to the 
Lamb of God that takes away sin. 

The work of grace had employed the hands and 
hearts of all who loved Christ, in the different sects 
of true Christians. Love had broken down all bar- 
riers of their diversities of creed. To win souls to 
the cross of Christ was their joy. And it was plea- 
sant to see, that there was no strife for the converts. 
Quietly they were allowed to profess their faith 
wherever their tastes or views might lead them. A 



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few united with the old churches, thus increasing 
the amount of spiritual life in them, and hastening 
the day of their return to the faith of our fathers. 
Surrounded by living Christians, whose pure faith 
and holy life were everywhere known, there was 
less danger that these should be injured by ming- 
ling with the worldly church. The degree of life 
within and the holy influence from without, would 
keep their feet from the paths of sin. Their growth 
in grace might be less rapid, but it was not likely 
to cease. Some, too, of the sons of Home remem- 
ber and rejoice, that the old churches still stand, 
even in the view of the civil law, on the basis of the 
old, evangelical covenants. They have been laid 
aside, forgotten; but no creed of error has ever 
been adopted ; no formal rejection of the truth ever 
occurred. One day the old foundations will again 
be built upon, with living stones, polished after the 
similitude of a palace. 



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CHAPTER XIV. 

"THE EARLY LOVED, THE EARLY 
LOST." 

I. The Cousins. 

" Wait for me, cousin ! You are not going home 
alone, through the woods." 

" Oh, never fear for me ! Woods ? Why here 
is only a glorious bower, for more than a quarter of 
a mile ! These old button-wood trees, and the oaks 
and walnuts beyond, what a perfect arch of liv- 
ing green they make, as far as the eye can reach ! 
And then, the rest of the way is through the open 
pasture, and fields, till I get close to the back gate 
of our garden. So I don't need you, at all. And 
then, the stars shine so bright, through every open- 
ing of this green canopy, that there will be no 
need of lamps to light me. I shall run, too, like a 
deer. I-—" Something very much like a kiss stop- 
ped all further utterance. 

I am not going to write a love story, not a word 
of it, though it begins with a kiss ! The young pair 
were cousins, and orphans. They had been play- 



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mates from infancy. From the time when they 
braided their hair together so that the scissors had 
to be used to separate them, till now, they had 
shared every joy, hope, every little grief, every 
present. I don't believe they had many thoughts 
that were not common property. A secret neither 
could keep without each other's help ! From the 
day when her tongue first could lisp, " tosen, tiss 
me," till the sad day when death silenced that 
sweet voice, they never met or parted without the 
kiss of affection. As for loving each other; why 
they never did anything else! But it never oc- 
curred to either of them to take time to say so. 
They were both orphans, from early infancy. As 
they grew up, that linked them together more 
closely. They were cousins, friends, brother and 
sister, everything to each other, but lovers. 

Their first letters were written to each other . 
and in every little absence they had been faithful 
correspondents. Not a movement of the lip of 
each, but was told to the other. So they were a 
model of cousinly love ! 

He had been absent a few months, and had 
found the Saviour. Just now they had been attend- 
ing a social meeting in the dear old house where 
so many happy hours of childhood were passed to- 
gether. He had been telling his youthful associates 



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217 



of the love of Christ, and exhorting them to flee to 
the same refuge for the guilty. Her eyes had been 
filled with tears more than once. Indeed, tho' he 
spoke to others, every word was meant for her, as 
much as if no other had been there. It was a 
matter of course, that he should walk home with 
her. And it was quite plain that all her talking 
about this " glorious grove," the " stars," and " run- 
ning like a deer," was only to hide her emotion. It 
was the first feeling she had ever wished to hide 
from her cousin ! 

They walked down the lane, arched over with 
the noble shade trees, and the thick grove beyond. 
He was trying to persuade her to become a Chris- 
tian that very night. He hardly doubted of his 
success ; it was so easy to love Christ ! Besides, 
when had they ever had one separate joy ! 

And what was the feeling she wished to hide ? 
It was a sorrow that her cousin had become a 
Christian ! Not that the fact grieved her ; oh no ! 
For the world she would not have had it otherwise. 
But now, he had feelings, hopes, joys in which she 
did not share ! He had been imbibing the truths 
of the gospel, and received them in love ; while she 
had learned to mingle much error with the same 
truths, and the truths had not power over her heart. 
19 



218 HOME. 

It seemed to cut asunder the love that had grown 
up with them from infancy. 

II. Christ the bestfrknd. 
A few sentences of then conversation will show 
its import. Their frankness was not lost. 

« Oh cousin, how many times I have read every 
one of your letters over ! It was just like coming 
home again, and sitting or walking with you in 
these old woods." 

« And I have read yours, too. And I always took 

delight in them till — " 
" Till what, dear cousin ?" 

" Why, till that letter ahout loving Christ more 
than all earthly friends. It seemed as though re- 
ligion was making you unnatural !" 

« Oh no ' But let us sit down on the rock under 
this nut-tree, and talk about it. Stop till I spread 
my handkerchief. There! So you think it unnat- 
ural?" _ .. 

"Yes 1 I do admire and reverence God tor ms 
greatness, wisdom and power; and I feel some- 
times very grateful love for his goodness to me and 
to all his creatures. But-he is so great, and so 
out of sight, that I can't feel such warm, hearty love 

« As we feel for each other, cousin ! Well, look 



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219 



at it. Did you feel the same affection for me, hun- 
dreds of miles off, as you do now, as we sit un- 
der this dear old tree, where we have passed so 
many happy hours ?" 

" Oh yes, and more too ! It will make you vain 
to tell you how much I loved you !" 

" Dear cousin, thank you ! But how much less 
we used to think of God, than of each other ! Be- 
cause God was invisible, we allowed Him to pass 
from our thoughts, except occasionally ; though 
every flower we plucked, every blade of grass, 
every leaf in these old woods has marks of his con- 
stant presence. i In him we live and move, and 
have our being.' And then his character is cer- 
tainly far more worthy of love than earthly objects 
can be ; is it not ?" 

" Yes, but it is so exalted ; so majestic. I feel 
lost, or else terrified, when I think of Him in all his 
wisdom and holiness. Besides, most of His choicest 
blessings come to me through his creatures. And 
it seems as though, in loving them, I was grateful 
to Him." 

" Ah, cousin, so I felt once. God was afar off. 
I believe we agreed perfectly, the last time we talk- 
ed this over, at least in our feelings. But look at 
the command ; 6 thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart.' Does not this mean warm af- 



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fection, like ours for our friends, only stronger and 
purer ?" " It seems so ; but I can't feel it." " Does 
not that very thing show you the need of the Me- 
diator ? When this great, invisible, perfect God, 
whom no man, or angel hath seen or can see, puts 
on our nature, and reveals himself in Jesus Christ, 
our friend, who loved and died for us ; can we not 
love him with perfect love ? Is not personal affec- 
tion for God in Christ easy? Or at least, it is pos- 
sible to love perfectly one who has all the sympa- 
thies of our nature, and still in them all, shows 
every attribute of God. ' In him,' our loving, suf- 
fering, dying Saviour, ' dwelleth all the fulness of 
the Godhead, bodily.' True, he has passed into the 
heavens, and sits on his throne of infinite power 
and glory. But our own nature is enthroned there. 
I know personal affection for the invisible God is 
impossible. But not for 'God manifest in the 
flesh.' Him we may love, with all the passionate 
ardor of our natures. We are just as sure of his 
sympathy, as you are of mine ; and yet we repose 
on him as the great I Am." "I see that it is so. 
Is that what you meant by the ' Deity of Christ,' 
in your letter ? I read all your arguments, and 
thought I could answer most of them. But this 
is so reasonable ! Why it is just what we need 
to bring God to us ; or rather to bring us to Him, 
as you would say." 



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221 



" Now is not such a friend, one who teaches us 
truth, opens life to us, even dies for our sins, offers 
to secure our pardon, to help us overcome our sin- 
ful hearts, and to share with us his glory which he 
had with the Father before the world (kosm ion- 
creation) was ; is he not to be loved far more warm- 
ly than any earthly friend ? And is it not very sin- 
ful in us not to love him so ? Oh, cousin, give him 
your whole heart ! If we are true to the higher 
laws of our nature, it must be anything but ' un- 
natural' so to love God in Christ." 

" I will try, nay, it seems as if I could, without 
trying much ! Good night, cousin." 

III. The enmity of the heart. 

The next evening they met around the old fire- 
side. The evening passed away in cheerful talk, 
intermingled with such religious discussion as was 
likely to rise, where nearly all were indifferent to, 
or did not believe the gospel. The cousins, with 
another sister, were left alone. She began with, 

" I find it is not so easy to love Christ, so warmly, 
after all. I see he is glorious, but my heart seems 
dead. Why don't I feel towards him as towards 
you and Helen ?" 

" Do you remember my letter about the enmity 
of the natural heart against God ?" She replied 
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222 



HOME. 



with some tears, " yes, cousin ; it was the only un- 
kind thing I ever received from you ! To tell me 
I hated God ! It made me shudder. I never had 
such a feeling in my heart in my life. Helen and 
I both cried about it ; and mother was so angry, 
she said I shouldn't answer it." 

" You did, cousin ! I hope you did not disobey 
your mother, in doing so." 

" Oh, no ; but mother thought it was just like 
calling me a heathen, or a great criminal. What 
did you mean by it ?" 

"You said last night it seemed very easy to love 
God in Christ. Did you pray to him, when you 
came home ?" 

"Yes, and at first, it seemed delightful ; but then, 
in a few moments he seemed to be just as far off 
as the Invisible God ; and my heart would not feel 
love. I cannot understand myself." 

" Perhaps I can help you. Have you not been 
my companion from infancy, sharing all our joys 
and sorrows together ? Now if you had such want 
of right feeling in your heart towards me, as you 
complain of towards God, what would be true of 
you ? Could you be said to love me ? or would it 
be ' she hates him ?' " <: It would not be love, cer- 
tainly." 

" Has not God been present with you in every mo- 



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223 



ment, from your birth, in all the good of your life, 
in every breath ? Has he not even revealed his 
glory, his self-denying love, in his dying Son, on 
purpose to draw your heart to him ? Does he not 
offer you infinite blessings, through the Saviour's 
blood and intercession ? Now if you do not feel the 
warmest love for him, what sort of a heart have 
you ?" 

She wept freely, but still urged, " I see my heart 
must be very wicked ; still I never was conscious of 
hating God, I was always grateful to him, rever- 
enced him, and admired his character, tho' I could 
not feel personal affection for him." 

" Do you hate the emperor of China ?" 

" What a question ! You are making sport of 
me, instead of arguing or explaining the matter." 

" I never was farther from mirth in my life, dear 
cousin. My whole heart is full of desire to save 
your soul from sin. But why do you not hate the 
Chinese monarch ? He has done neither good nor 
evil to you ! He never crossed your wishes. God 
has never crossed them. He loads you with bless- 
ings. Your cultivated mind sees his excellence ; 
but your heart does not respond with warm affec- 
tion. This is a bad beginning. But look further. 
Does John Sanders love his mother ?" 

" You are very queer to-night, cousin ! Why you 



224 



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know he kicked her out of the house in a drunken 
fit, only three nights ago.' 5 

"Yet he owes that mother uniform and constant 
obedience, as her son. Is not his unfilial conduct 
a proof of enmity ?" " It proves a bad heart, at 
least." " How much greater are your obligations 
to obey our heavenly Father? Yet, his very first 
commandment, to love him. with all your heart, 
which is the basis of every other, you admit you 
have not obeyed. Besides : have you ever tried to 
obey him? I do not mean to avoid open wicked- 
ness ; but have you tried, day by day, to please 
God, in all your thoughts, words and feelings? 
Have you not studied far more to please your earth- 
ly friends?" There was no answer but tears. 
" Well, cousin, you have made your friends your 
God, instead of Jehovah ! It was so once with me ! 
The human affections have been nurtured to a sin- 
ful, and idolatrous extent. We have made our hap- 
piness consist in what, therefore, was displeasing to 
God. We have pleased ourselves, instead of obey- 
ing him. Is not this enmity? What proof of en- 
mity can be greater than constant disobedience, 
where perfect love and duty are required ?" 

"But why don't I feel conscious of enmity, such 
as I feel towards men, sometimes ? I see, it must 
be because 1 do not see God ; he is far off, and 



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225 



is not the immediate agent in my hopes or disap- 
pointments. Is that the reason ?" 

" Partly. But have you not been really insensi- 
ble to the fact that you were living in such sinful 
disobedience ? And have you, kind and gentle as 
you are to all — have you really disinterested love 
for one human being ? Are you willing to make 
sacrifices to benefit a stranger who does not deserve 
anything but censure and contempt ? Your look of 
surprise at the question answers for you. I know 
you will deny yourself for us, whom you love. But 
Christ died for his enemies, for those who deserved 
no pity, no mercy. Is not your spirit therefore 
really selfish ?" 

" My heart does not say yes, cousin, though I can- 
not answer you. It seems to rise in strong opposi- 
tion, I feel, I confess, now, something as mother 
said she did, when your letter came." 

" That only proves that it is so, my dear cousin. 
Your sinful heart does not love to come to the light, 
because it is sinful. When the light shines on the 
real nature of your affections, the enmity begins to 
come into distinct consciousness. But let us pray 
together, cousin. It is time to retire, and you know 
I have a long walk through the woods." So they 
parted for some months. 

She wept and prayed, and, as she said, tried to 



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love God. But only became more deeply sensible 
of her guilt, and full of unhappiness on account 
of it. 

IV. The Mother. 

The mother did not love the gospel. She was 
very kind-hearted. Agreeable in her manners and 
conversation, she had deep-rooted enmity to the 
gospel. When a child died, who gave no evidence 
of a renewed heart, she was asked if the child— 
who was an adult— became a Christian before 
death ? The answer was, " I wish not to enter any 
heaven where my child is not." Maternal love was 
very strong; too strong for a sound judgment, even 
had there been right intellectual views of the truth. 
Her love was warmly returned by her children. 
In everything that respected their health, comfort, 
manners, education and social feelings, her sound 
judgment was as manifest as her maternal love. 
But what could even a mother teach, without the 
love of Christ in her own heart ? In the daugh- 
ter's heart, the strongest influence that withheld her 
from Christ, was love to her mother. That mother 
would be grieved to the heart ; nay, deeply offend- 
ed ; perhaps less kind. And so the event proved. 
But the daughter had a thought still more bitter. 
To become a Christian might separate her from that 



HOME. 



227 



mother forever. She could not look steadily at the 
idea that the mother, so loved, might die in sin and 
perish. 

She had almost wished to perish with her moth- 
er! Experience had shown her the error of our 
maternal lesson. The daughter could not be- 
lieve in the natural purity of her own heart. She 
felt that sinful affections reigned there. 

And, truly, what more striking proof of the 
heart's alienation from God, is there, than to see 
thus, the best and purest of our natural affections 
becoming the means of hindering the salvation of 
those whom we best love. 

The mother could not be blind to the change in 
the character of one child ; but because another 
died without it, she would not believe it was neces- 
sary to fit the soul for heaven. To allow this, was 
to admit that one beloved, idolized child had per- 
ished, and might charge the loss of a soul to a mo- 
ther's neglect. For the mother, while she strove to 
make her children amiable, had not taught them 
their need of a holy heart, or of faith in a crucified 
Saviour to obtain the pardon of their sins. 

One child cherished the mother's hostility to pure 
religion ; the other, embraced the Saviour. The 
last, she knew was safe ; her heart determined to 
believe the other was so. The truth that saved the 



228 



H OME. 



one, condemned the other ; therefore she hated it 
Perhaps her daughter, if not withdrawn from that 
destroying circle of an impenitent mother's love, 
would have wept for sin, but chosen to perish in it. 
Like an old school-mate, who told me once, he 
would rather go to hell with his father, than be 
saved without him. If anything was needed to 
show that the merely human affections do not con- 
stitute piety, such examples would be enough. 
The mere excess of right emotions does not change 
their nature; nor would it embitter the heart 
against the gospel. 

These natural affections are amiable with or with- 
out religion. When purified by the controlling 
power of holy love, they become far more winning 
than they were before. But they do not enter into 
the essence of holiness. 

There was a mother, once, so tried as never mo- 
ther was before,^ or will be again. The holiest, 
wisest, most gifted, most affectionate son a mother 
ever loved, hung bleeding, and filled with the an- 
guish of the cross, before her eyes. She wept; but 
she worshipped. She had "hid in her heart" the 
words that taught the meaning of his sufferings. 
She wept, but with all a mother's intense love in 
her heart, she would not take him from the cross! 
He was a world's Redeemer. Loving him, as he 



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229 



was worthy to be loved, she subdued her anguish, 
because he bade her. He was her son, no more ; 
but he was her Saviour. They do not seem to have 
met after the resurrection. So should a mother's 
love ever be controlled by the love of Christ ; by 
the higher principles of duty to God and man. 
Then its beauty shines forth in perfect lustre. 

V. The Holy Family. 

There are households which one can hardly en- 
ter without feeling the presence of God. It is not 
so much on account of what is said, or even what 
is done ; but because everything is habitually said 
and done with a reference to the will of God. In 
one such family, once among the children of Home, 
but now residing in another place, every person who 
has been a member of it for any considerable peri- 
od, for twenty years past, has become a child of 
God ; and the number has been large. 

The cousins next met in that family circle. She 
had been invited there, to pass a season, not with- 
out some reference to her spiritual benefit. But 
her health was impaired by 'toil and study, and the 
labors of a school. The seeds of consumption were 
sown, though no one then thought of it. 

The first hour was spent in comparing views of 
what was passing around her. 

20 



230 



HOME. 



" Here is wealth," he said, " riches in abundance, 
and wealth without covetousness." 

" Yes | and it seems to be used as if it all be- 
longed, not to them, but to God ; and as if all they 
had to do with it was to see it spent to please him, 
and benefit their fellow-men. I never knew any- 
thing like it before." 

" Here is refinement, too, in social life." 
" It is so ; and yet there is something more about 
it that I can hardly describe. Every one seems to 
be so gentle ; yet they are as firm as a rock, in 
what is right. Their refinement seems to me to re- 
sult from the feelings of their hearts ; or, I should 
say, from trying to imitate Christ." 
" They are certainly very amiable." 
" Some of them, they tell me, cousin, were not 
so, naturally. And there is J., as amiable a person 
as I ever saw ; but she does not seem to be govern- 
ed by the same feelings as the rest. Somehow, her 
amiability seems to be of a lower grade than theirs. 
It has no principle in it. Her manners are pleas- 
ing, because she wishes to please. With the oth- 
ers, it is because they seek to do good, and to win 
others to Christ. Her temper was naturally gentle 
and social ; but not more so than P's. Yet he seems 
to be far purer in heart. He seems to have God 
always before him." 



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231 



" Is he always serious and sedate ?" 

" Oh no ; sometimes he is very merry, and full of 
wit and humor. But he makes it his rule never to 
allow himself to get into a state of mind that unfits 
him for prayer; that is, for the immediate presence 
of God." 

" Is the family a reading and intelligent one ?" 

"None more so. Elegant literature is not for- 
gotten. Look around you, at those piles of books, 
charts, pictures, music — they all love music— you 
see here proofs of both intelligence and social en- 
joyment. 

" Then, too, there is the same cheerfulness both 
in sickness and health ; though I never saw a more 
tenderly attached circle. They pray, when others 
would weep. That seems to make them happy in 
the sorest trial." 

" Are they fond of society ?" 

" 8 Very. Some of them are the ornaments of the 
social circle. But then Christ seems never absent 
from their minds. It is not because they are al- 
ways talking of religion. Far from it. But all they 
do say of it seems to flow naturally out of the heart, 
as if it was both perfectly familiar and -habitually 
loved. There are no set speeches about it. It is all 
natural. No one of them has ever took me aside to 
talk, in form, respecting my soul. Yet they all 



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seemed to know just what I wanted, and when I 
needed a word in season. Oh, 'tis such a heaven 
to live in such a family !" 

« And does your own heart fully respond to the 
lessons of such a life ?" 

"Yes, my Saviour has revealed his love to me ; 
and I trust is formed in me, the hope of glory. If I 
could always live, it seems to me I should grow 
fast in knowledge and holiness. But I must return 
home the next month." 

The holy living had been a teacher that dispersed 
all the clouds of sin and error. 

Here was a piety that manifestly was something 
more than the best display of the natural sympa- 
thies of the human heart. These were seen— seen 
exalted, purified, and controlled by holy love. It 
was the aim of each to be like Christ. That se- 
cured excellence in evei7thing. All knowledge, 
every wish, every thought was controlled with ha- 
bitual reference to the mind of Christ. Trained 
awhile in such a school, she returned again to the 
paternal roof; returned, alas, to die. 

VI. She sleeps. 

Yet two years passed away, before the Lord call- 
ed her. Two years of pain — of constant suffering. 
Two years of gentleness, like that of a dove ; of 



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233 



meekness, like that of Moses; of patience that 
seemed drawn from the very fountain of divine 
love. There was no eager display of zeal. It was 
clothed with humility. It patiently waited the fit 
occasion to warn the sinner. But who, of all that 
knew the sweet sufferer, was not faithfully warned, 
and pointed to the Lamb of God ? There were bit- 
ter foes of the gospel about her ; they were some- 
times unkind. But, like her Lord, she opened not 
her mouth in reproaches. Her voice was, " Father, 
forgive them !" If there was one thought of pain, 
as to her future, it was, not of dying, but of having 
lived uselessly. Fear not, blessed saint ! There is 
not one of all that saw thy holy dying, but feels the 
need of holy living, to be prepared for a place so 
holy as that where thou now dwellest ! 

Bed of death ? It was the couch of state, the 
scene of glorious triumph. It was only one of 
Heaven's opened doors, to let in a sjpirit already 
washed, and made white in the blood of the Lamb. 

Shall we weep, because the beloved companion 
from infancy was glorified with the glory Christ 
had prepared for her, and so well prepared her to 
receive ? 

Awhile she seemed to sleep ; her eyelids closed ; 
there was no motion ; but now and then a smile of 
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more than earthly beauty passed over the features 
as she left this sorrowing world. 

We cannot always, or often, form any correct 
judgment of the character by the scenes of the sick 
bed, or the death struggle. Medicine often gives a 
quiet that is mistaken for the peace of God. Of- 
tener still the feebleness of disease makes the mind 
calm, because it is not capable of thought or emo- 
tion. And this is called resignation ! But some- 
times heaven is so clearly opened to the vision of 
the living, that it brings the celestial city very near 
indeed. 

I care little how I die, if I may have the love of 
Christ in my heart, while living and capable of se- 
curing him. A death even of joy is no proof of the 
salvation of the soul, on which we can rely, unless 
the holy life has shown the dying one's hopes to be 
founded on the Rock of Ages. Nay, I believe God 
so orders it, in his Providence, that most of those 
who perish, shall die with little suffering. He does 
it in pity to the survivors, that the anguish of their 
spirits may not be too great to bear. Who could 
endure, every time a sinner dies in his sins, to see 
hell as visibly opened, as heaven sometimes is 
when the souls of God's holy ones are called to his 
presence ? To hear the first wail of anguish, as we 
hear the first note of the songs of heaven ? So we 



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are bidden to " live unto the Lord," and then we 
know we shall die unto him, and be glorified to- 
gether with him. But if we live unto ourselves, 
our death will not open heaven to us, though it may 
seem to be peaceful, or even joyful. ' Be not de- 
ceived ! God is not mocked. What a'man soweth, 
that shall he also reap." 



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CHAPTER XV. 

Diversities of character— Causes— Natural gifts differ— 
Feelings vary— Education— Preaching— The metaphy- 
sicians—Course of Providence ; Eacts— Diversities of be- 
lief. Illustrations— Sources of error— All truths saving 
— 41 The same Spirit"— Our Home above. 
Those who wish to excuse their own departure 
from, or indifference to the truths of the gospel, of- 
ten say : " That we can no more expect men to 
think and feel alike, than we can expect them to 
look alike." There is both truth and error in the 
remark ; a great error, and a most important truth. 

Except in a few cases of unnatural deformity, the 
essential features of every man are the same. The 
essential elements of a holy character must be the 
same, in all who have holy hearts. The facts, or 
truths respecting God, man, redemption and eterni- 
ty, cannot possibly vary with all men's various and 
ever changing views respecting them. 

Still, there is a most wonderful diversity of cha- 
racter and experience, among those who are real 
Christians, who do show that they are governed by 
holy love to God and man. And to trace the causes 



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and results of this diversity, is one of the most im- 
portant and useful of all studies, to the practical 
Christian. It requires volumes, instead of a chapter. 
But the lessons of life in Home would be incom- 
plete, without some hints on the subject. 

A large number of Christians are very ill quali- 
fied to analyze, or describe the emotions of their 
own hearts at the time of their conversion. They 
are too excited, too confused. There is a rush of 
new and strange emotions, no one of which is dis- 
tinct enough for description. They are not used to 
observing such things in themselves or others. And 
very few men can easily tell even what they do 
know, with entire accuracy. With such persons, 
everything they can recall, connected in any way 
with their experience, becomes a part of it. One 
dream is given by the Holy Spirit ; the trance which 
can as easily be produced by other means, as by 
religious influences, becomes an opening of heaven 
to their view. So they think ; and it is in vain to 
argue them out of it. This is the source of many 
an error, many a fond delusion. Men will not part 
with that which seems to be so inwrought into their 
experiences, and so connected with their hopes of 
heaven. Hence the immense value of minute state- 
ments of all the varied experiences of the Christian, 
evil as well as good. It would be found that most 



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of the controversies among true Christians, respect- 
ing the elements of a holy life and character, grow 
out of this variety in their several experiences. 

I listened once to a very minute narrative of the 
conversion of more than one hundred educated 
men, given in successive weeks, for the very pur- 
pose of mutual instruction. The variety was won- 
derful. There were only six, whose experience 
was much alike, either in respect to the causes or 
the details of the change God had wrought in them. 
Minute acquaintance with many more cases, has 
only increased my knowledge of these diversities. 
The causes of them were many. 
(1) Differences of intellectual powers. The rea- 
soning intellect, delighting to trace effects to causes, 
and follow the cause in its results, generally con- 
nected its experience with some of the higher prin- 
ciples of the divine government. It would he in 
vain to reason against the sovereignty of God, with 
a mind of this class, into whose every thought and 
feeling, the truths designated by that term had be- 
come incorporated, not only by an intellectual per- 
ception of their divine harmony, but by their power 
in purifying the soul from sin. Equally vain the 
efforts to make such doctrines valuable to minds 
not so constituted will generally prove. 

The class of minds that reasoned most from effects 



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239 



to causes, habitually traced all events in life and na- 
ture, to God. His will, his hand, was seen in every- 
thing, good and evil, and devoutly recognized with 
an humble, submissive spirit. 

Minds that commonly reasoned from causes to 
effects, were more employed in tracing the harmo- 
ny of the principles of God's government, especially 
if their powers of analysis were connected with the 
power of comparing with accuracy, the results of 
their researches. With them, the reception of the 
truth did not result from submission to divine teach- 
ing, so much as from a perception that that teach- 
ing was reasonable, and in keeping with all known 
truths. 

The poetic mind almost always was most im- 
pressed with the atonement ; the glory of the re- 
vealed Godhead ; with the majesty of the cross ; 
the resurrection and mediation and reign of the 
Redeemer glorified ; and with other themes that ap- 
pealed to the mind's perception of sublimity, beau- 
ty and perfection. 

(2) There were still more diversities from natural 
feelings and sentiments. 

A naturally conscientious mind was impressed 
with the obligations of the Law of God. Justice, 
right and duty, as violated by a life of disobedience, 
humbled the soul. 



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A proud mind, or one, more correctly speaking, 
naturally respecting itself highly, was most impress- 
ed with the meanness, and loathsome turpitude of 
sin. 

One in whom the love of the favor of others was 
the ruling element, was most solicitous to please 
God, and to be the object of his smile of favor. 
That feeling drew him from the paths of sin. 

The naturally generous and self-sacrificing were 
won sometimes by the benevolence of the gospel. 
It was so noble to give up all for Christ, that they 
could not refrain from doing it. The naturally tim- 
id, shrinking from pain and suffering, were often 
awakened by simple fear of divine wrath against 
sin. The judgments of God led them to learn righ- 
teousness. 

A mind to which mathematics seemed to be the 
very aliment of life, was awakened by the effects of 
the investigations of La Place cn his mind, in de~ 
monstrating the wisdom of God, and his universal 
agency. 

Others, whose affections were very strong, were 
awakened by the influence of love for a mother, wife, 
or other beloved friends. To please them, they first 
sought to please God, by doing his will. In short, 
there was hardly any one power of the mental, so- 
cial and moral constitution of man, that did not be- 



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241 



come the agent in the conversion of the soul to 
God ; and so distinctly, that the convert could not 
relate his history, without showing it to all. 

(3) The various education persons receive, gives 
still other varieties. This, however, tends greatly 
to make the diversities that result from natural cha- 
racter less striking, though not always. Sometimes 
the bent of the mind in one direction is so strong, 
that it has the power of assimilation ; it converts to 
its own uses all the efforts made to impart know- 
ledge, or to elicit other mental powers and re- 
sources. It was seen, however, that the well edu- 
cated mind, generally, had a higher regard for the 
truths of religion ; the uneducated, for the feelings 
it inspires. With the first, to be right was the prime 
object ; with the last, it was to feel deeply whatever 
was believed. 

(4) The character of the preaching to which they 
had been accustomed, had a marked effect. If it 
was didactic reasoning, their minds had the same 
tendency. If it was poetic, the beauty of religion 
inflamed them. If it dealt more with the various 
emotions of the sinful or holy heart, so their re- 
ligion became more decidedly that of experience, 
rather than thought or action. When the character 
of the preaching corresponded with the natural ten- 
dencies of the individual mind, the result was very 
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marked and beneficial — though not always. One 
very acute metaphysical mind, trained by a pastor 
of the same mental character, had become a sort of 
metaphysical monomaniac! It analyzed its emo- 
tions and principles, till they lost half their legiti- 
mate power over the soul. I believe the lessons of 
affliction have since corrected that tendency ; for he 
is now a veiy practical man. In another instance, 
the same cause, acting on a mind so constituted, 
appears to have kept the sinner from God. His 
whole mental energy was absorbed in the philoso- 
phy of truth, till it lost all power to subdue the 
heart! I never knew so accurate a judge of what 
was exactly true, as that sinner ! But a long life of 
sin, under the constant, nay, eager attendance on all 
the means of grace, proved that the truth failed to 
reach his heart. 

(5) The course of Providence with individuals, 
was equally marked in their conversion. 

Gratitude for prosperity subdued one. The loss 
of a tenderly loved relative broke the heart of an- 
other, and he sought consolation in Christ. Yet 
the conversions that resulted from sanctified afflic- 
tion, or fear, were very few. 

There were striking instances of this. One, on 
a bed of sickness, when friends and physicians had 
bid him prepare for a speedy exchange of worlds, 



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243 



vowed to God that he would serve him, if life 
should be spared. Life was granted ; and for a 
brief space the vow was redeemed, in form ; while 
the impulse of gratitude lasted. But the heart was 
not subdued ; and long years of folly and sin were 
passed before some other influence brought the sin- 
ner to the cross. 

Another, when the cholera raged around, was 
filled with fears of death. For a year or two, 
there was prayer, devotion, and all the outward 
marks of a religious life. But years of worldly and 
selfish living followed, when the pestilence ceased 
to walk in darkness, or waste the powers of life at 
noon-day. 

A son, carefully trained to believe and reverence 
the truths and precepts of the Bible, came to me 
once to ask guidance to the cross. Thrown into 
the whirl of the city, surrounded by those who 
neither loved nor respected the truth, the effects of 
their mockeries ou his own mind, in lessening his 
own reverence for sacred things, alarmed him. He 
said he felt he must become a child of God, or he 
should lose all respect for what his education and 
his judgment both led him to regard as the truth of 
God. So he wisely decided to make Christ his 
friend. 

Another had long been engaged in the rum traf- 



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fic. His shop had been a perfect curse to a whole 
neighborhood of Home. Sickness came ; and 
while on his bed some facts occurred that illustrated 
the horrible results of his own business in such a 
way that he could not close his eyes to it. Remorse 
seized upon him ; and a desire to repair the evils 
he had done in his selfish pursuit of gain, led him 
to consecrate himself and all his to the Lord. 

(6) Diversities of religious belief had the same 
marked effect. There seemed to be no one idea of 
the whole circle of truth which was not employed 
to convert the soul ; no idea, the intellectual rejection 
of which prevented the agency of the Holy Spirit 
in using what truth was embraced, for the salvation 
of the soul. A Deist, who utterly rejected Divine 
revelation, was awakened by reflections on the 
goodness of God. He often meditated on the sub- 
ject, and supposed he loved the God of nature. 
One day the contrast between the Divine benevo- 
lence, as shown in hundreds of instances, where 
the mere wish to confer happiness must have been 
the sole motive for providing for it, and his own 
selfish character, struck him with such power, that 
he fell on his knees and cried aloud for mercy. 
Trained up to despise a Bible he had never cared 
to examine, it was only when many struggles with his 
sinful heart taught him the need of a guide, that he 



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245 



sought for a Testament, and for the first time, learn- 
ed more of the character and mission of Christ, 
than could be learned from profane curses. 

In another, clear views of the Divine Gov- 
ernment, led to cordial, joyful submission and hum- 
ble obedience, without the least mental reference to 
a Saviour, or even much thought whether pardon 
was received or needed at all. The sense of guilt 
had been very acute ; the submission to justice was 
cordial ; and the spirit of filial love and obedience 
filled the heart, for weeks before the Saviour was 
revealed in his glory. These cases settled in my 
mind the practicability of a heathen's conversion, 
by the principles of natural religion, without the 
gospel, " so that they are without excuse." In all 
the after life of this able man, in his preaching he 
perpetually enforced submission as the first duty, 
and as the mode of entering on the life of faith. 
It was a serious hindrance to the usefulness of one 
of the best men I ever knew. For twenty years he 
had preached with great ability, and lived a life of 
prayer. At the end of that time, he told me, that 
while his preaching had comforted and edified 
many in the church of God, he knew not that he 
had ever directly won one soul to Christ ! His at- 
tention was pointed to this leading practical error 
in his preaching, and to the vast diversities in the 
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246 



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mode of commencing a religious life. His meth- 
ods of instruction were varied, while the same 
clearness in enforcing the truths of the gospel re- 
mained. His harvests of souls have since that time 
been constant and great. 

One who intellectually rejected the Deity and 
atonement of Christ, was led by the Spirit to see 
her sins, and her need of mercy. It was only in 
the progress of holy affections that Christ became 
her " Lord and her God." 

He who had been trained to view the doctrine of 
election — an election not based on the foreseen con- 
version of the man — as abhorrent to every princi- 
ple of equity, was won to Christ, by the perception 
of the grace that sought him, and brought him to 
Christ, while he had chosen the path of death. He 
wondered why he was taken, and not another ! So 
the very principle he rejected, brought forth its 
appropriate fruits of humility and gratitude in his 
heart, through the grace of the Spirit. So with all 
truths. Each has sanctifying power ; and is a sword 
of the Spirit to slay those forms of sin that rule the 
heart. So that the little child whose tender mind 
can grasp but one truth, In its simplest form, may 
be saved by it. The feeble minded who lack the 
capacity to discern many truths, may be purified by 
what their vision sees. The worldly lover of gold, 



HOME. 



who made it his god, dreamed that he was stagger- 
ing along, almost crushed by the weight of his 
heaped coffers. The Saviour— just as his mind, 
ruled by the outward senses, had seen him painted 
in the Cathedral of Baltimore— seemed to pass by, 
and in pity relieve him of the burden that was 
crushing out his life ; and he woke to give his gold, 
himself and his all to that Saviour. Baptized with 
his Spirit, his gold is no longer a curse, but the 
means of a blessing to many. It was the idea of 
the vanity of worldly treasures to confer happiness, 
that broke up the selfish slumbers of his frozen 
heart. It is in vain to say that no one can become 
a Christian who has been educated, or otherwise 
led, intellectually to reject any particular truth, how- 
ever important that may be. It is not so. If that 
rejection be wilful, after the mind clearly sees that tJw 
doctrine is true, the rejection of it will, no doubt, de- 
stroy the soul. So it would if the doctrine or pre- 
cept were, relatively, of less importance. The de- 
liberate rejection of any truth or duty, is a rejection 
of the rightful authority of the Divine teacher and 
Law-giver. But such wilful sin is probably not 
very common. It is most frequently committed, 
not where errors in doctrine are taught, but where 
men enjoy the clear light of the gospel. Then we 
often see a bitter rejection of some single truth or 



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duty, followed by blindness of mind, hardness of 
heart, and a death of shame. 

The source of error, and of much inefficient 
preaching may be seen by an anecdote. A young 
man, just from a Seminary, wrote out, in a little 
different form, all the lectures of his theological 
instructors, and preached them to his people, in the 
first years of his ministry. It is hardly necessary 
to say, not a soul was converted. Did he not 
preach the truth ? Yes. The whole truth ? Al- 
most! Was it not philosophically arranged, so 
that the harmony of every part of the system 
could be seen ? No doubt. Even the " order of 
nature in the affections of the heart" was demon- 
strated with admirable logic and precision. But 
the mode of instruction in which the great intellect 
taught him the harmony and theory of truth, was 
not that which fitted it to reach the consciences, 
wants, feelings and sympathies of men. People 
said he was a 6 great preacher,' but many of his 
most important doctrines were rejected, in spite of 
the irrefutable logic that sustained them. Probably, 

few minds, in some churches, might have been 
savingly benefited by just such preaching. But, 
as a Christian, the preacher did not believe his own 
doctrines, in the forms in which he had been 
preaching them. Those forms had relation to the 



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249 



logical intellect ; none to the emotions of the heart. 
When he philosophized, correctly enough, on the 
fact that love was the element of all right affections, 
and therefore, in the order of nature the first holy 
emotion produced by the Spirit, he could not help 
remembering that he had been first conscious of 
penitence for sin, of submission, of hopes of mercy. 
When he told the fact that no man could be justi- 
fied, or forgiven, without an atonement, and that 
pardon was granted to believers alone, he forgot 
that he had found peace and joy in God, while, in- 
tellectually, he had rejected the idea of an atoning 
Saviour. So, led by chances, beyond his control, 
he began to preach the same truths as they lay in 
his own heart, connected with his and other men's 
experience as saints and sinners. Now the power 
of the Spirit was revealed, and the truth made 
many wise unto salvation. 

What is the error? It is this. Men mistake 
a logical necessity for an actual need. In logic, every 
truth is harmonized with, and flows certainly from 
every other truth. All reasonings of truth are rea- 
sonings in a circle. For every truth may be as- 
sumed, in turn, as a postulate, and every other 
drawn from it by a logic nothing can shake. But 
few men are logicians ! You logically infer that 
a man cannot reject one truth of the circle, without 



250 



H O M E . 



rejecting other, and essential ideas, with which, in 
express terms, the Bible connects salvation from 
sin and woe. But many a man is conscious of holy 
affections, who does not believe some portions of 
this great circle of truth. His heart is pained. He 
deems you a bigot. Brotherly love ceases. Sects 
are formed, among those who really love the same 
holiness. Worse still. The true disciple becomes 
embitterred against some valuable truths in the 
divine circle of light, and he loses its sanctifying 
power, which was intended to complete the harmo- 
ny of his own Christian character. Besides; a 
large class of divine truths seldom have any direct 
relation to the first experience of the awakened 
sinner, and the convert. They, too, by such preach- 
ing, become hostile to truths needful to them in 
some other stage of then* progress. 

It makes no great difference what particular truth 
is first impressed on a sinner's mind. If his carnal 
heart is roused, he will quarrel with one as readily 
as with another. The doctrine he quarrels with 
must be pressed upon his heart till he feels its sub- 
duing power. Some think that this or that doctrine 
is peculiarly offensive to the corrupt heart. Not 
so ! The doctrine that happens to disturb a man 
in his sins, or that, which by the habits of his mind 
or education, is best fitted to teach him the real 



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nature of his sinful affections, that becomes the 
cross to him. To receive that, be it what it may, 
involves a heart of submission to the divine au- 
thority. If the Spirit of holy love once enters the 
heart, its reign, if not prevented, will in time con- 
trol the whole intellect, as well as every feeling. 
" There are diversities of operations, but the same 
Spirits 

The diversities of religious character formed are 
as great as the causes that enter into their forma- 
tion are numerous. 

One knows more truth than another. His holy 
character is more matured. The mental peculiari- 
ties of another are seen in the fullest development 
of some graces of the Spirit, while others, though 
not wholly wanting, are seldom seen. One is more 
humble and submissive ; another more zealous and 
joyous in hope. Meekness shines in one, holy 
boldness in his brother. The reception of some 
truths gives greater stability of character than most 
who reject them possess. In one, deep and joyous 
emotions are deemed the evidences of sanctification. 
In another, the habitual conformity of the thoughts 
and wishes to the commandments of God is deemed 
the sure proof of holiness. Both are so, sometimes. 
Some characters unite both ; more separate them 
or give to one more preeminence, than is given to 



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it by others equally the followers of God as dear 
children. 

Thus, the causes that diversify the religious 
character at its commencement, continue to act 
throughout the entire life of the Christian. The 
love of God is in his heart. He will be saved. If 
his mind was equally fitted to be benefited by every 
revealed truth, he would be a more perfect man. a 
more perfect Christian. If he believed and loved 
the entire circle of divine truths, it would make his 
character complete, perfect. And, with all the 
hindrances he finds within and without, if he is 
truly taught of God, he will, in the end, reach such 
perfection. Where there is filial love in the heart ; 
a sense of guilt, and of the need of free grace ; and 
a teachable temper, let us never despair of seeing 
the child become a man. The Spirit is his teacher. 
« He giveth to every man, severally, as He will," 
just as may be needed, by the nature of the indi- 
vidual man, to fit him for life here, and a more 
glorious life when we put on the immortal body. 

How careful should we be not to cause one of 
the little ones that believe in Christ to offend! 
With what tenderness should we watch the feeblest 
manifestations of real holiness ! If the flax smoke 
ever so little, there is fire enough to kindle it. And 
if we reason with the heart, aiding the experience 



HOME. 253 

of the weak or ignorant with the truths best adapt- 
ed to their wants, they will grow in grace rapidly. 
Every truth of the gospel is truth ; important truth ; 
invaluable in its place, and fitting time. But all 
truths are not alike important at all times, or for 
all men. The wise master builder does not use a 
shingle where a beam is needed, or hold up a 
rafter with a board nail. The storm that invigor- 
ates the oak will destroy the tender wheat. " There 
are diversities of gifts, by the same Spirit." 

Use logic with the reasoner ; the " deep things 
of God" with those who have strength to receive 
them ; milk for babes. But with all, preach and 
teach from the experience of the heart, to the hearts 
of others. The man who tells me how he proves 
a doctrine to be true, does me little good. But he 
who tells me the relation of that doctrine or idea to 
the corresponding affections of the soul, enables 
me to feed upon it, to grow in holiness, to obtain 
new peace and joy, and so, the better to glorify our 
Father who is in heaven. 

Thus, in the progress of the individual mind we 
see the same variety of causes and results that we 
notice in the revival of pure religion in a whole 
town. In all, God, our fathers' God, is at work by 
his Spirit to bring many sons and daughters to 
glory. Pray, Christian, pray on, pray ever ! Pray 
22 



254 HOME. 

for the fulfilment of the promise, 44 they shall all be 
taught of God." Pray that the Holy Spirit may 
constantly dwell in every mind, imparting his va- 
rious gifts of grace, knowledge and love, to each 
one, according to his will, and their needs. Pray 
that you in no hour of your life, may be without 
the presence of that Spirit, till Christ be perfectly 
formed in you the hope of glory. Pray that He 
may so dwell in your children, in remembrance of 
His covenant, to the end of time. 

A parting word. Reader, Is this world your 
Home ? Our Lord Jesus Christ, will one day come 
with ten thousands of his saints ; are you so form- 
ing a character like His, that he " will be admired 
in you, in that day ? 

I love to think of a beautiful comparison of Stil- 
lingfleet, in the opening of his Origines Saa'ae. In 
the ancient houses the offices for daily and servile 
toil occupied the first floor. The rooms for family 
use, to live in, were above. Heaven, he says, is 
only the upper room, the upper room of our dwel- 
ling-place, where our life is to be passed. Here, 
we have servile toils, the drudgery of toil. It is 
only the preparation for our real life. It is no 
Home till we enter the permanent dwelling-place. 
When every power of the individual mind is fully 
developed, and every power, every feeling, every 



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255 



thought entirely governed by holy love to God and 
our fellows, then we are fitted for our permanent 
Home. There will be diversities of gifts, there. 
One will excel in strength, another in wisdom. 
One will harp with the harpers, another will 
sing the new song. One will ever devoutly wor- 
ship, another will teach the mystery of God to those 
who need a guide. But all shall serve him, with 
perfect hearts. That makes heaven the Home of 
the soul. Are you ready, fitted to enter our Home ? 



END. 



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